James O'Brien meets Susie Dent | LBC

Lexicographer, etymologist and Queen of Countdown’s Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent has always been fascinated by words. As a child, she would read the labels of shampoo bottles at bath time, marvelling at the fact they were written in a different language. She studied modern languages at Oxford University before getting a job at Oxford University Press. She made her first appearance on Channel 4’s Countdown in 1992. Since then, she has appeared in more than 8,000 episodes and is the longest serving member of the current on-air team. Susie has also written several books including her latest, Interesting Stories About Curious Words and Roots of Happiness.

[@billywindsock9597]

How lovely to see two well spoken grown ups chatting positively and being interesting. An hour well spent.

[@redscouse8568]

Lovely interview, Lovely lady, Countdown would not be the same without her.

[@chrisp4170]

Two intelligent people apparently in tune with each other. She is a gorgeous English rose. More please…

[@robspereall8203]

Great interview. When I was on Countdown, Susie was really kind to everyone in the studio. Even when the day of recording lasted a lot longer than expected, Susie was still happy to give her precious time to people that wanted to chat with her.

[@zaidhakim]

One of the most iconic people in British culture. A true legend and a national treasure.

[@johngreenwood1972]

I’ve been quietly in love with her for ages. And here she is reinforcing my early opinion.

[@OldGreyMulletTest]

Talent crush! 😉

[@maximoo9861]

I've always liked this lady and this interview justifies the reason why, such a lovely humble person with no side to her and so interesting too

[@alanmcnamara9155]

The best hour of my life in a long time. I could listen to Susie for hours, she is so knowledgeable and has a voice that I really enjoy. Thank you!

[@gman7346]

The way Susie said Hiraeth made me respect her even more. She is a genuine British treasure.

[@nickbeer2658]

This has everything! The pleasure of hearing Susie reference "dreckly" from here in Devon seals it.

[@macintyredunning]

Genuinely one of the best interviews I’ve ever seen!

[@56Ronin56]

Fabulous! Love Susie!

[@krismos6618]

What a wonderful 1 hour. Fascinating lady. Thank you for giving us a break from the madness going on in the world.

[@DubSun33]

I've developed a terribly short attention span of late but found this podcast so easy to listen to. Terrific presenter, marvellous guest and great discussion topics.

[@thisandthat871]

I could listen to Susie for hours she's great and a so interesting

[@johnmackenzie7487]

Excellent, Susie is such an example to all, of how one can prosper by being non confrontational and just plain nice.

[@jenkinseric2]

from the west coast of Canada I just discovered Susie and 8/10 countdown in the last few years. Susie is amazing, terrific sense of humour and wit. And one of the most attractive women on the telly.

[@KiwiShoot]

The way her face lights up when talking about words..... just awesome!

[@andrewmullen4003]

Great interview, love Susie

[@fatbelly27]

I think the current Countdown team is the best ever. Suzie has a lovely personality

[@TheTimelord62]

She is an absolute treasure and such a great advertisement for professionalism. Her manner especially dealing with Jimmy on six cats. An amazing person.

[@thetessellater9163]

What happened to the other two cats ? 😃

[@philipwrightscartoonscaric5858]

First time that I listned to "Full enclosure" and found it so relaxing. That said, I thought it great to see both yourself and your guest, Susie, so relaxed and open too. A wonderful podcast, thank you...!

[@stephenleader8065]

I've just bookmarked this so when I feel a bit down, I will watch it to cheer myself up.

[@Namaerica]

Lovely interview. I use the word ‘scurrifunge’ and so do my daughters in law. Susie introduced me to it. It’s become part of our family lexicon.

[@tomtom21194]

I find it funny that this has more views than Jimmy Carr. She isnt boring, she is lovely.

[@andrewbilton5993]

Great interview and a really lovely, inspiring individual.

[@tynebar]

Lovely James - I am totally entranced with Susie, she's a lovely lady. Thanks.

[@steviemac8075]

Two amazingly interesting and intelligent people just chatting. Thank you both for your time 🕰️ 👍🏻

[@quickclipsbyjmj]

At loooooooooooooooooooong last, a proper chat with Ms Dent.

[@tynebar]

There are others online.

[@philanderson5138]

great, thank you. Her podcast with Giles is so much fun - 'something rhymes with purple'.

[@iamanomas]

I wish I had come across word origins as a potential career opportunity 6 decades ago. I would have loved doing that or something related. It involves history too. How great.

[@benjio77]

What a lovely person😊

[@Angela-en6oh]

That was such an interesting and riveting chat (not an interview) between people who obviously like each other and have great respect for their achievements. And my takeaway word, which I shall be using at every opportunity, is ruthful. What a lovely sentiment to take forward. Thank you.

[@davidmcivor2761]

Long hope this intimate series of conversations with those that matter continues!.

[@patcomerford5596]

A great upload.❤❤❤❤

[@tusker4954]

Brilliant interview! 👏🏻👏🏻 A true national treasure!

[@johnkochen7264]

Susie is an absolutely captivating person to listen to when she is not being roasted by Jimmy Carr.

[@Baptist7203]

Susie was ready to leave 8/10 cats because she wasn’t included in the roasting and Jimmy Carr didn’t out of respect to her. When he found out she wanted to be fully included he more than obliged her to her delight.

[@Smonnie13]

​@@Baptist7203that's incredible. I love her.

[@donevans1884]

What a brilliant interview , Susie is fantastic , she has a passion for what she does , i think the English language is on its way down , one example that gets me is where has the word Twice has gone as people now say two times , strange , but what a fantastic interview , Susie is one of the most interesting people i have seen .

[@blacxthornE]

part of enjoying linguistics is enjoying how languages evolve. are you lamenting the fact that people don't say "thrice" anymore? no, "three times" makes as much sense if not more. why should "twice" be sacred?

[@zefft.f4010]

English is more widely spoken around the world today than at any other time in history. Also, people do still say twice. Even thrice on occasion.

[@jeanpierreviergever1417]

When did the decay start do you think? Susie posts a word that has gone out of use every day on X/Twitter. For me as a Dutchman English would have been much easier if it had stuck with old Anglo-Saxon and not have all these Normandish and French influences.

[@ContreRiposte]

Really enjoyed that...

[@gregjarvis3288]

What a wonderful start to my day........observing this video. Thank you both.😊

[@playersinexile72]

Susie Dent is my favourite lexisomethingorother....

[@GARY6661967]

Susie is gorgeous❤❤

[@ericshrive7506]

Outstanding...thanks

[@westaussiejeff1547]

Great interview!

[@DG-Gilmore]

James I love these conversations but they would feel so much more at home in a lounge with a fireplace. A set like that would signficatnly increase the virality of the show i promise you.

[@Rich.H68]

2 of my fav peeps to watch/listen to.

[@Mr223P]

I just didn’t want that to end, fantastic!

[@peterowen4456]

Absolute delight.

[@jimmyendacott8663]

This was a great interview; but all I can think about now is a reality TV show with monks versus nuns.

[@ABlair-dv3ki]

Very interesting and enjoyable interview. Thank you 🙏

[@earthwizz]

What a truly awesome woman, thanks for this. An interesting usage I find is 'the exception that proves the rule' which, nowadays, means it's an exception but the rule still applies. When it was first used 'prove' meant 'test', so the phrase meant the exception that tests the rule and, presumably, if it fails the test it's no longer a rule. Quite the opposite.

[@johnrowland3105]

Wonderful interview.

[@kevinfarrell523]

Both fascinating people

[@wendelynmusic]

I love her on Cats does Countdown. I wish we could get the real countdown in the states or in YT but I only find occasional old episodes.

[@eviled2006]

lol...great interview....a genuine bit of listening for a change.

[@jasjandu1345]

I was looking forward to this intelligent and adult conversation. However, very disappointed by the interviewer constantly interfering in guests story! Please allow the guests to tell their story and stop interfering in conversation.

[@gnoccialpesto]

Susie Dent is a wonderful lady. As an aside, due to my daughter's Scandinavian mother tongue, she is single-handedly trying to revive "Overmorrow" in English, I only recently found out that it is an "archaic" word in English, so I'll stop trying to correct her ;)

[@6yjjk]

Finnish has "ylihuomenna", which pretty much translates directly to that. "The day after tomorrow" is so messy by comparison!

[@Dave1507]

That would be Übermorgen in german, and it's a direct tranlation of each word, used frequently to these days.

[@woofbarkyap]

My aunt and grandmother used to use overmorrow and I've been singlehandedly trying to keep it alive for the last 50yrs. In my spare time I try to hold back the tide, but it's a hobby 🤣

[@relwaretep]

What a fabulous word. I didn't know it existed but now I see it, it makes so much sense. Straight to my vocabulary knowledge, I can hardly wait to use it in conversation. Thanks!!

[@otaupdate3151]

I wish I'd had Susie as my German teacher.🥰

[@saorgaza6068]

Lovely enjoyable chat between James and Susie. Two words they mentioned 'ruth' and 'lovelight' appear in Irish folk songs. The first line of the song 'Sweet sixteen' 'When first I saw the lovelight in your eyes' and also 'Slievenamon' has a line in it describing a maiden as having 'the soul of truth and melting ruth'. I've often sung the song but always wondered what 'ruth' meant. Nice to know it means compassion. Thanks or all this

[@ZabreDarklight]

Cool interview. I smiled when Woodlice came up. As I've always called them Cheesy bugs as did my parents and no one I met ever did. Was fascinating when I looked this up a few months ago and finding out the reason why.

[@nickbasden1761]

And . . . and . . . come on, don't leave us there 🙂

[@terrybrett467]

They were cheesy bugs to me too. Maybe it is part of the world that we lived in, I am from the Southeast.

[@Polanskitoo]

So unusual to see James talking to someone with respect. Bless

[@smithpm81]

what a wonderful lady

[@briansteele2723]

I tried explaining to my French girlfriend the 'Apple of my eye' is actually affectionate so now she calls me the potato of her ears, mocking our fine language 🤣

[@samsamsamsam165]

😂

[@ambadad]

Simply a delight.

[@manreay6769]

Brilliant 👏👏👏👏

[@Dogboy73]

She’s an absolute sweetie 😍

[@grahamshaw5531]

Time well spent.

[@paolagrando5079]

A delightful lady.

[@philipbrowne63]

Funny, I don't know whether James somewhere in his hindbrain remembered this, but there is indeed a German word for precisely the feeling of being comfortably at home @7:40 - "Gemütlichkeit". Susie started talking about 'geheim', which does indeed mean secret: she may have been thinking of 'Heimat', which means 'homeland'.

[@Dave1507]

Gemütlichkeit isn't limited to your home though, it can be cozy anywhere (which is what 'gemütlich' means).

[@frankmcginley]

Wonderful watch. Incredibly interesting and a lovely person.

[@pnklady3788]

I love Susie Dent... so easy on the ears... and the eyes...

[@enemde3025]

Such a wonderful, lovely person . I have a massive crush on her.😍

[@mdkramster]

Is it me, or is she one of the most beautiful people on the planet?

[@Dave1507]

Since we don't know what you look like, I'd have to go with Susie. ;)

[@dusty3913]

She’s the epitome of pleasant. And, the interviewer is terrifically unobtrusive.

[@Guide504]

How young does this lady look, amazing.

[@columbus7950]

National treasure.

[@bobmac004]

A smitten James O Brien 🙂

[@Kevindlmncnnr]

'when first I saw the lovelight in your eye.......'🙂

[@lindenstromberg6859]

I was was made familiar of her via Jimmy Carr's 8 out of 10 Cats does Count Down.

[@sidarthur8706]

i'll never not have a schoolboy crush on this marvellous woman

[@reeling-in]

My condolences

[@byeckfella]

I’ve got a massive crush on Susie…there, I’ve said it!

[@rabburns1382]

Super Suzie ❤ He's not bad either...😊

[@utredutredson1686]

a term at Eton College to study for Oxbridge entrance exams. ] She went on to Somerville College, Oxford for her BA in modern languages, then to Princeton University

[@ulsteryid7627]

Suzie dent is beautiful full stop the only reason to watch countdown

[@ivorprentice8386]

She is awesome

[@giffgaffnettwork5626]

"Dent's secret New York" followed by Berlin and Paris (Notre Dame) That is a programme series just waiting to be made! Come on commissioners/producers for 2025! ❤

[@xPowerdriverx]

A real life traumfrau.

[@MorkyOrky]

In Scotland I went to a Catholic secondary school that had a catchment I guess within 20 miles radius in central Scotland. The school was in Stirling that provided for places within that radius such as Denny, Dunnipace, Kilsyth, Bonnybridge and other more obscure places such as Buchlyvie, Kippen and even Auchterader and each of those places had their own dialect that could identify them with that place even within that small radius

[@ianjones2187]

In St. Helens the alley between back to back terrace house was called the back entry . True ,!

[@CharlieMac53]

I think she's gorgeous. 😍

[@nicolaischartauandersen8796]

Got stuck on the German word for 'feeling at home', Susie was looking for. 'Heimatgefühl' could be it (lit = 'home feeling'; a sense of familiarity, feeling at home/being on familiar territory). But it doesn't really - as far as I know German - capture the sense of mysterious attraction, they are talking about, i.e. being in a place where you don't belong, but still somehow strangely feel 'at home'.

[@Real23Phil]

I watched this instead of the football (I love football), that's how interesting I find this lady.

[@jamesberry5578]

Pity Jams is such a bore though.

[@athompso99]

Oh, the irony of hearing her describe someone's "harrumphness" - LOLOL

[@Suspended4thYT]

FYI - woodlice in Edinburgh = slaters 😁

[@TheLucanicLord]

7:30 I bet they have one and it's like 37 letters long. Their operas go on for weeks.

[@rosstheboss-q2f]

Really enjoyed this interview, but it was so frustrating not being able to make out if Susie’s can contained some boring soft drink or vandal-strength BEER!

[@nothingbutchappy]

55 seconds in I learned a knew word...

[@michouharoliyk2050]

Now even Dent says 'yeah, no'

[@ColinBarrett001]

Absolutely adore Susie Dent. In a world of idiotic right-wing populism, disinformation, corruption and criminality, Susie is a shining light of incorruptible truth, intelligence and beauty. And a real English rose. Love her!