Biblically, in the beginning was the word. But for Shashi Tharoor, it's word in the beginning, middle, end, and on all sides.
For, no one in post-Independent India has ever been taking to English like fish to water than the writer-politician. As word got out that his new book 'The Paradoxical Prime Minister' is available for pre-order, Tharoor took to Twitter to say that it is "more than just a 400-page exercise in floccinaucinihilipilification" on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The word, which could at once drive an asthmatic to comatose, was once heard in the pre-TV era quizzing circuit. It is among the longest English words, meaning the action or habit of estimating something as worthless. The similar other word then was Honorificabilitudinitatibus. It means 'invincible glorious honourableness.'
Length question
But length is a contentious thing. Length, in English language, is usually of the word that is formed naturally from its root words without any intentional making. English also allows words to form out of coinage, construction, onomatopoia (formation from sound, like thud and bang). The length is also determined on the basis of orthography (spelling system of a language), phonology (contrastive relationships among the speech sounds), and the number of phonemes.
Cult status
Tharoor's adventures in the language has given him a cult status among English-reading Indians. His erudite and collected speeches were a hit on the Internet when he systematically demolished the 'acclaimed' constructs and claims of the Empire's magnanimity on the colonies.
His tweet that journalist Arnab Goswami's reportage on the death of Tharoor's wife, Sunanda Pushkar, was an 'exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations & outright lies being broadcast by an unprincipled showman masquerading as a journalist' had earned him instant fame.
Now, it seems the reading populace enthusiastically awaits Tharoor's books and the cloudburst of diction that rains down ahead of its release. For, we are sure the author keeps his word when it comes to his books.
