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John Murray is publishing Dent’s Modern Tribes: The Secret Languages of Britain by "Countdown" word-expert Susie Dent this October.
Dent, a lexicographer and etymologist, is best known as a resident expert in Countdown's "dictionary corner" and regularly appears on TV and radio.
Dent’s Modern Tribes will be a witty guide to "secret words" used by everyone from paramedics to football fans, and from vicars to hells angels, as a "whirlwind tour of British society, decoding our secret languages and finding out what really makes us tick".
Georgina Laycock of John Murray bought world rights from Rosemary Scoular at United Agents.
Laycock said: "Susie’s brilliant book has made me see Britain and the British in a totally different way. Did you know, for instance, that soldiers have a word for making a cup of tea just for yourself (‘jack brew’), that binmen call maggots ‘disco rice’, or that golfers call a shot that’s a bit thin ‘a Kate Moss’? I knew doctors had a secret code but the language of builders is something else. I can’t wait for everyone to read it."
Dent said: "I’ve been jotting down examples of tribal talk for as long as I can remember, but this book has finally given me a chance to eavesdrop professionally. I’m not sure I’ll ever see vicars and undertakers in the same light again."
John Murray will publish Dent’s Modern Tribes; The Secret Languages of Britain on 20th October 2016, priced £14.99.