How to Talk Like a Local: A National Phrasebook from the Author of Word Perfect

Susie Dent

Penguin Random House, 2011 - History - 256 pages

Would you be bewildered if someone described you as radgy?
Do you know how to recognise a tittamatorter?
And would you understand if someone called you a culchie?

How to Talk Like a Local gathers together hundreds of words from all over the country and digs down to uncover their origins. From dardledumdue, which means day-dreamer in East Anglia, through forkin robbins, the Yorkshire term for earwigs, to clemt, a Lancashire word that means hungry, it investigates an astonishingly rich variety of regional expressions, and provides a fascinating insight into the history of the English language.

If you're intrigued by colourful words and phrases, if you're interested in how English is really spoken, or if you simply want to find out a bit more about the development of our language, How to Talk Like a Local is irresistible - and enlightening - reading.

About the author

Susie Dent is a lexicographer, logophile, and longtime queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner. An independent editor and translator, Dent is the author multiple books that explore the joys of language, including Word Perfect, and How To Talk Like A Local. Previously, Dent has also worked across numerous editions of The Language Report, an annual guide to the new words and phrases that find their way into the English language.

Bibliographic information

• Title: How to Talk Like a Local: A National Phrasebook from the Author of Word Perfect
• Author: Susie Dent
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2011
• ISBN: 0099514761, 9780099514763
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Great Britain / General; Humor / General; Language Arts & Disciplines / General; Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / General; Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Pragmatics; Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics; Reference / Word Lists