How to Talk Like a Local

Oct 2, 2024 8:22 PM

Author:Susie Dent

'Susie Dent is a national treasure' RICHARD OSMAN

'Susie Dent is a one-off. She breathes life and fun into words and language' PAM AYRES

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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 daydreamer 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.

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'Nobody on earth knows more about the English language than Susie Dent and nobody writes about it more entertainingly' GYLES BRANDRETH

'It's an interesting and, at times, hilarious read. One for word-lovers' THE SUN

Reviews

Sensible advice... Bryson is against pomposity and in favour of clarity and brevity... His pet hates are particularly well judged, by which I mean they are mine too. Time and again, I found myself cheering him on... Evelyn Waugh would find much to surprise and please him here... provides plenty of ammunition for anoraky one-upmanship

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

Now your favourite transplanted American (and mine) has ventured into the field of Linguistic Guidance for Limeys... Language lovers - of every stripe and creed - should raise three cheers.... clear out your linguistic cobwebs, with the help of Bill Bryson

—— Erica Wagner , The Times

As a newspaper sub-editor myself (Bryson's original trade), I've read this guide to spelling, grammar and usage from front to back and have to say one thing. It's brilliant. It should be on the shelf of anyone aspiring to make a living using the English language... the best book of its type yet written

—— Daily Mail

'Hutchinson's determination to put it into historical context has produced a significant commentary on the fortunes of Gaelic. He reminds us of each hard-won milestone on the road to some kind of meaningful government commitment'.

—— David Ross , Scottish Books

'An interesting account of modern Gaelic history'.

—— Lindsay Macdonald , Aberdeen Press & Journal

'An absorbing read...reminding us that oppression is not always conducted abroad or by the sword and that, when a remedy is sought, it will often be found'.

—— Sean Cosgrove , Morning Star

'Hutchinson's determination to put it into a historical context has produced a significant commentary on the fortunes of Gaelic.He reminds us of each hard-won milestone on the road to some kind of meaningful government commitment'.

—— David Ross , The Glasgow Herald

One thing that makes Gowers such an engaging figure is that he isn't prissy, priggish or prim. As far as he is concerned, language is a living thing that is constantly changing - and this is just as it should be

—— Sunday Telegraph

Still the best book on English and how to write it ... Unhappy with versions rewritten by others, Rebecca Gowers, Sir Ernest's great-granddaughter, has produced a new edition ... The result is splendid ... Gowers wrote with wit, humanity and common sense ... [his] central advice should be taped to the screen of anyone sitting down at a computer keyboard

—— Michael Skapinker , Financial Times

The book has been modernized but preserves all its original charm ... There is arguably a greater need for its circulation among the general public [than ever before]

—— Big Issue

The zeal with which Sir Ernest uncovers error is matched only by the wit with which he chastises it

—— Evening Standard

I am glad that attention should be continually drawn to copies of this book ... I am in full sympathy with the doctrine laid down by Sir Ernest Gowers

—— Sir Winston Churchill

A delight, a classic of its kind

—— John o'London's Weekly

Great fun to read

—— Economist

Brilliant

—— New Statesman

A sweetly reasonable and wholly admirable guide

—— The Times

It will delight far wider circles than those to whom it is primarily addressed

—— Observer

Personal and affectionate tribute

—— Sally Morris , Daily Mail

Affectionate, familial tribute to this many-sided man.

—— The Catholic Herald

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