John Murray snaps up Susie Dent’s ‘life-enhancing’ emotional dictionary

John Murray has signed An Emotional Dictionary: Real Words for How You Feel from Angst to Zwodder by "Countdown" star Susie Dent.

Georgina Laycock, non-fiction publisher, acquired world rights from Rosemary Scoular at United Agents for publication on 13th October 2022.

The publisher called it the "first truly human dictionary, as idiosyncratic and unusual as you are". The synopsis reads: “Whether it’s the distress of a bad haircut (age-otori), the best kind of hug (cwtch) or the shock of jumping into icy water (curglaff), there are real words to pinpoint how you feel and Susie Dent is here to help you find them. On a mission to describe the indescribable, this life-enhancing book will deepen your vocabulary as much as it extends it."

Laycock said: “Richard Osman is right: Susie Dent is a national treasure. She has an unerring knack for finding the one word that sums up how everyone is feeling and this book is her best yet. From longing to go back to bed (dysania) to the intense relief of swearing (lalochezia), An Emotional Dictionary is packed with delightful but also highly useful terms that everyone needs to know.”

Dent is the resident word expert in Dictionary Corner on C4’s "Countdown" and "8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown". She regularly contributes to TV and radio items about words, and writes for several publications including the i and Radio Times. 

She said: “‘So many of us have experienced a roller-coaster of emotions over the past few years, from sorrow to gratitude, anger to exhaustion, as well as some that are harder to describe. And so it’s felt somehow fitting to immerse myself in the lexicon of words that attempt to name what we feel.

“From the everyday — such as the Sunday evening blues (the mubble fubbles) or the envious staring at your companion’s food (groaking) — to the big ones such as ’jealousy’ or the pleasure of other people’s happiness (confelicity), there are words to express exactly how we feel. Some, like ’respair’ (a recovery from despair), have been lost in the corners of the dictionary, while others have borrowed from other languages (where would we be without the German Torschlusspanik, ’shut-door panic’, or the feeling that by middle age life’s opportunities are passing us by?).

“In charting the often-hidden vocabulary of human emotions I’ve experienced surprise, pleasure and fascination — I hope this book inspires just the same in its readers."