Susie Dent's Weird Words

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That's criminal!' Chocolate fan divides opinion with controversial list dividing UK confectionery into tiers - but do YOU think he got it right?

On Fridays, the German Bakery van comes to Oxford, selling traditional baked goods as it weaves its way around the city. For lexicographer, etymologist and Countdown favourite Susie Dent, it has become a regular fixture – as much part of her weekly routine as her appearances on the Channel 4 quiz show. “I would love to linger there for an hour, talking to the guy in German,” she tells me. “I snatch a conversation, but it just reminds me how much I miss losing myself in the language.” Like many linguists, Dent is positive about linguistic change, and feels that children are its flagbearers. She’s excited that non-native speakers of English around the world now hugely outnumber native speakers, and about the “new Englishes” in their hands and mouths. She’s not afraid of AI, and doesn’t think new technology is going to destroy the way we speak our language – though that fear is nothing new. Victorians were afraid of the postcard, she points out. Their telegram was our “text speak is ruining our children”. On the other hand, she’s not keen on the methods that schools have recently been made to use to teach grammar. “If you say to kids, ‘Do you know about ablaut reduplication?’, their eyes would just completely glaze over. But if you say to them, ‘Would you like to play a game of pong ping, or have a kat kit?’, they understand that instinctively and it becomes quite exciting.” She has two children and – far from correcting their errors – has always loved it when they get words wrong. “English has always evolved by mistake,” she says. “The example I give is the jerusalem artichoke, which has nothing to do with Jerusalem and is not even an artichoke. The plant is a heliotrope – it turns towards the sun – but because we couldn’t pronounce the Italian ‘ gira sol’, we thought ‘Jerusalem’ would do.”Tiffany Haddish 'arrested' for DUI in Beverly Hills after 'being found asleep behind the wheel of her car while it was still running' in middle of the street Just Stop Oil protestors spared from road obstruction charges - as police arrested them while the green man was showing I'm A Celeb's Tony Bellew and Nigel Farage leave viewers 'heaving' as they are forced to drink blended penises during gruesome trial: 'This is vile!'

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