SHE is the country’s best known wordsmith who has appeared in Countdown's Dictionary Corner for nearly 30 years. Now Susie Dent is helping to train Alexa to better understand UK regional accents.
Alexa, who is Susie Dent?
Fans of Channel 4's enduring game show, Countdown, will know her from her place in Dictionary Corner, where she provides background information on the origins of particular words or phrases.
Countdown?
The game show sets word and number tasks and is presently hosted by Nick Hewer, with Rachel Riley co-hosting. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4 and Ms Dent has made more than 2,500 appearances. She is now the longest-serving member of the show's current on-screen team, having first appeared back in 1992.
And she is training Alexa?
A lexicographer and etymologist, she is working with the tech firm to broaden the vocabulary of the virtual AI (artificial intelligence) assistant, introducing the device to hundreds of new regional words.
As a result?
Amazon says its Alexa helper is now able to better understand a variety of regional expressions, including saying hello, from “ay-up” to “wotcha”, as well as an array of colloquial expressions for dinner - “supper” or “tea” - and goodbye, including “ta-ra” and “toodle-pip”.
It is an ongoing development?
Amazon uses language experts at its Development Centre in Cambridge to train Alexa on the variations of British speech, including the rolling “R” in Scots accents and the use of long vowels in the south of England. And Ms Dent added that she is thrilled to be on board, saying: “Nowhere is the diversity of English vocabulary more apparent than in Britain. Our local languages are constantly evolving and changing I’m delighted to teach Alexa some new words and encourage everyone to converse more with each other, and with Alexa, so we can all learn the glorious quirks of British language.”
Podcast?
Ms Dent’s podcast with Gyles Brandreth, “Something Rhymes with Purple”, where they share their love of the English language, recently won Best Entertainment Podcast in the 2020 British Podcast Awards.
A new book?
On October 1, Ms Dent's book, Word Perfect, described as "a linguistic almanac" will be published. It offers readers a word or phrase linked to every day of the year and will offer etymological facts and histories related to the terms, including, for example, the word “snaccident”, which is apparently the unintentional devouring of an entire packet of biscuits, and the phrase “turning a blind eye”, which was popularised by Nelson’s deliberate failure to note the order to stop fighting during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807.
On Twitter?
With 562,000 Twitter followers, Ms Dent has built something of a reputation for finding the perfect words to describe these peculiar times in which we live. For example, she delighted followers at the weekend with her word of the day “ipsedixitism”, explaining that it is “the dogmatic insistence that something is a 'fact' without providing any supporting evidence”. One Tweeter told her: “You always get the right word for the zeitgeist”.
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