Football vs The Dictionary: Susie Dent on bus-parking & bouncebackability

Football Cliches

Tom Whiter

Sports, Football, Soccer

4.9 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The pod welcomes Susie Dent, the queen of Countdown's dictionary corner, to examine the language of football in the sort of detail we've always dreamed of. Susie takes us through the ironic death of the word bouncebackability, why aplomb is not quite as glamorous as it might sound, talismans, gilt-edged changes, what it feels like to be a stalwart, lambasts vs tirades, princocks and pavonisers, and what it really means to be "at sixes and sevens". Meanwhile, there's talk of tinpot dictionaries that just can’t compete with the Big Three, Arsene Wenger speaking a language none of us will understand, and could the "iron bucket" become the new "parking the bus"? Play the new Happy Hunting Grounds daily quiz at games.footballcliches.com Sign up for Dreamland, the new members-only Football Clichés experience, to access our exclusive new show and much more: https://dreamland.footballcliches.com Visit nordvpn.com/cliches to get four extra months on a two-year plan with NordVPN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So, Emma's birthday. What are you wearing?
0:02.6	I was thinking maybe a dress, but now I'm not sure.
0:07.0	Probably just wear some smart jeans and a...
0:09.0	What was I saying?
0:11.0	Do you need to get that? You seem a bit distracted?
0:14.6	There's more pictures from him.
0:16.4	I've only just met him and he thinks it's okay to send me naked pictures.
0:19.7	Sending her unwanted nudes is abuse.
0:22.9	Enough. End violence against women and girls. See it for what it is. Visit gov.ukh
0:28.4	forward slash enough. Running out of power on site, Makita's latest redemption has got you covered.
0:34.8	When you spend £390 on qualifying Makita XGT or Connect X products,
0:40.1	you can claim a free Tablas BL4040F XGT battery. That's right, a free Makita battery.
0:47.2	So don't miss out. Claim exclusively on Makita UK.com slash redemptions. That's Makita UK.com
0:53.6	slash redemptions. Cordless power uk.com slash redemptions cordless power endless possibilities spend
0:57.8	excludes 20% VAT tis and see supply every time i play i wish that i could win vortex vortex
1:06.8	we are vortex competitions dot com and we've given away millions of pounds of prizes.
1:15.1	We've recently just given away quarter of a million pounds to Hannah from Trioing.
1:19.1	Be our next lucky winner and head to Vortexcomptitions.com and use code podcast 50 to get 50% off.
1:25.8	Tears and seize a play, nor purchase necessary.
1:27.8	Wortex, vortex.
1:30.0	I'm sorry, you can sit there and look and play with all your silly machines as much as you like.
1:35.5	Is Gas going to have a crack?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tom Whiter, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tom Whiter and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.