Shashi Tharoor: The English Twitter tutor 2017 gifted us

Here is looking back at how Shashi Tharoor's brilliant vocabulary became the talk of the Internet, throughout the year.

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From introducing us to ‘farrago’, ‘rodomontade’ and ‘wabaqoof’ among others, to even, accidentally, coming up with a word of his own ‘Thang hoong’, Shashi Tharoor has proven to be the English professor we never deserved to have. (Source: File Photo)

Amidst all the mindless scrolling and ‘haha-reacting’ on hilarious memes, if there is anybody we should be thankful to for imparting education on the Internet, then it is Shashi Tharoor. The MP from Thiruvananthapuram, especially this year, was single-handely responsible for making us feel bad about not listening attentively during English lessons at school. So much so, at one point somebody on the Internet demanded his school fees back after being thrown off-guard by one of the words from the ‘Tharooraurus’. Clearly, this year, among other things that we are grateful about, Tharoor’s short and crisp English tutorials on Twitter are among the first. From introducing us to ‘farrago’, ‘rodomontade’ and ‘webaqoof’ among others, to even, accidentally, coming up with a word of his own ‘Thang hoong’, Tharoor has proven to be the English professor we probably never deserved.

Here is looking back at how the MP’s brilliant vocabulary became the talk of the Internet, throughout the year.

* When Tharoor’s response to Republic TV’s “expose” in the Sunanda Pushkar murder case left all of the Internet rattled, shortly after which they got down to doing what they are best known for — make HILARIOUS memes.

Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations&outright lies being broadcast by an unprincipled showman masquerading as a journalst

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 8, 2017

Here are some of the funniest memes it inspired thereafter.

Farrago on Google search after the Tharoor tweet. pic.twitter.com/2NUMcfjjZ4

— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) May 8, 2017

What they teach us.

A b c d

What they give us in exams.

Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations & outright lies

— THAT RANDOM Guy – Tanul Mittal (@Soundhumor) May 9, 2017

Word: Farrago | fəˈrɑːɡəʊ

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What Shirish Kunder says after an argument with his wife.

Example: “Farrago away yaar please”

— Akshar (@AksharPathak) May 8, 2017

Voldemort: Avada kedavra, Expelliarmus.
S Tharoor: Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies.
Volde: ded.

— Yo Yo लाफ्टर Singh!! (@Mocksterr) May 9, 2017

* When Tharoor introduced us to ‘Webaqoof‘, a word described by the Urban dictionary as “one who believes every claim or allegation on the internet & social media must be true”.

New Hinglish 21st century dictionary:
*Webaqoof*: “one who believes every claim or allegation on the internet & social media must be true”

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 25, 2017

* When the 61-year-old MP declared “snollygoster” as the “word of the day”. Before you begin wondering why he woke up to decide a random tongue-twisting word should be the ‘word of the day’ then, interestingly, this happened right after Nitish Kumar joined hands with the NDA in July, which was the alliance that he fought against in the Bihar Assembly elections in 2015.

Word of the day!
Definition of *snollygoster*
US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician
First Known Use: 1845
Most recent use: 26/7/17

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 27, 2017

* While taking a stand on the controversy around the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati, Tharoor made a typo in his tweet — ‘Thang hoog hats‘, which, funnily, lead his followers to look up the word’s meaning because they thought this was yet another new word they probably haven’t heard of before! This, when all he wanted to say was “than ghoonghats” in the tweet “Agree totally. The #Padmavati controversy is an opportunity to focus on the conditions of Rajasthani women today &not just of queens six centuries ago. Rajasthan’s female literacy among lowest. Education more important thang Hoog hats.”

Agree totally. The #Padmavati controversy is an opportunity to focus on the conditions of Rajasthani women today &not just of queens six centuries ago. Rajasthan’s female literacy among lowest. Education more important thang Hoog hats https://t.co/82rvGmkfwO

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 13, 2017

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* However when Tharoor thought a pun on Manushi Chhillar’s surname would be funny, for the Internet it was anything but. Taking a dig on demonetisation, right after she won the prestigious title, Tharoor wrote, “What a mistake to demonetise our currency! BJP should have realised that Indian cash dominates the globe: look, even our Chhillar has become Miss World!” While he apologised, the newly crowned beauty took it in her stride and tweeted “Exactly @vineetjaintimes agree with you on this. A girl who has just won the World isn’t going to be upset over a tongue-in-cheek remark. ‘Chillar’ talk is just small change – let’s not forget the ‘chill’ within Chhillar ?? @ShashiTharoor”

What a mistake to demonetise our currency! BJP should have realised that Indian cash dominates the globe: look, even our Chhillar has become Miss World!

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 19, 2017

Just one of those days when the sun did not rise from the east for Tharoor.

* The latest addition to the list is “rodomontade” that came out of a tweet in which he was addressing the “well-meaning folks who send me parodies of my supposed speaking/writing style.” The hilarious and seemingly intended irony was how Twitter followers huddled under the comments’ section of the tweet to know what it meant.

To all the well-meaning folks who send me parodies of my supposed speaking/writing style: The purpose of speaking or writing is to communicate w/ precision. I choose my words because they are the best ones for the idea i want to convey, not the most obscure or rodomontade ones!

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 13, 2017

Much obliged, English language pedagogue.

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