Image source: Mangalam
After leaving everyone puzzled with the word ‘Floccinaucinihilipilification’ that he used in a tweet on October 10 to announce his latest book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister, Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor tweeted the next 35-letter word putting Twitterati in a fix.
Taking it to the Twitter again, vocab master Tharoor promised his readers that the book would not contain any words longer than paradoxical. But in classic Shashi Tharoor style, he made the announcement and a sarcastic apology while using yet another very long word – ‘hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia’
Tharoor in his tweet said –
“I’m sorry if one of my tweets y’day gave rise to an epidemic of hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia!” wrote Mr Tharoor.
He also tweeted the meaning of hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia making it easy for its followers
“[Don’t bother looking it up: it’s just a word describing a fear of long words]” he added.
Since being shared just one hour ago, the tweet has already garnered over 3,000 ‘likes’ and a ton of responses. Netizens are following and mastering the art of longwords.
On Wednesday, as part of a promotion for his new book called ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister,’ described the new book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “more than just a 400-page exercise in floccinaucinihilipilification.”
According to the Oxford dictionary, the word ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ is a noun and means “the action or habit of estimating something as worthless”.
While people were struggling to spell, read and pronounce it, Shashi Tharoor helps you to pronounce it in his own spoken-audio clip.