Shashi Tharoor has a penchant for using unusual words. His recent denunciation of defamatory accusations by a TV channel famously resurrected usage of the word ‘farrago’ meaning hodgepodge or a jumble. Tharoor had said then: “The channel’s accusations against me were a farrago of lies, misrepresentation and half-truths broadcast by an unprincipled showman masquerading as a journalist”.
When Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, elected alongside RJD and Congress on an anti-BJP platform in the past, suddenly switched sides and joined BJP, Tharoor had tweeted: “Word of the Day - Snollygoster; Definition - US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician... First known use: 1846... Most recent use: 26/7/17”. The tweet led to the resurrection of a word that was no longer in wide use outside the country of its origin.
Shashi Tharoor’s choice of vocabulary in his prolific writings has often sent readers scurrying for the dictionary’s cover. In his books Tharoor has frequently used uncommon words like defenestrate (verb: literally to throw out of window), kerfuffle (noun: a disorderly outburst, tumult, row or ruckus; a fuss), rodomontade (noun, verb and adj: boastful talk or behaviour) and the like. His public persona of a Congress politician and long-serving Member of Parliament, perforce, makes him criticize the BJP government in Delhi. Sample these: ‘’Ayushman Bharat is essentially a Panglossian (adj: foolishly and unrealistically optimistic) idea, a policy based on wishful thinking”; “Sometimes, in recent years, it has seemed that the world’s largest democracy has in many ways degenerated into a kakistocracy” (noun: a form of government in which the least qualified or most unprincipled individuals are in power).
The book is a delightful collection of words that have long imparted profound pleasure to its author. Interestingly, the book’s title has been coined by combining his name with tyrannosaurus (since so many of us are terrified of difficult words) and thesaurus. It includes top quality essays on fifty-three words - including those aforementioned - corresponding to each of the weeks of the current leap year 2020. The essays delve into the etymology of each word and delightfully come up with anecdotes about its usage, literary citations and nuggets of history.
Once finished, the reader might discover his own favourite word from among Tharoor’s fifty-three. As I so unequivocally found out myself. Often considered the longest regular word in English language, my favourite word turns out to be Floccinaucinihilipilification (noun: the act of estimating something or someone as worthless). Tharoorosaurus may be a work of reference yet it may well be read like a novel, from start to finish. Like the Kingsley Amis masterclass, The King’s English.
The reviewer is a Joint Secretary rank Officer in the Government of Jharkhand. Singh is a bibliophile having a voracious appetite for reading.
