Congress MP and man of many words Shashi Tharoor is back with a new word that is laced with sarcasm for his political opponents. “Quockerwodger” is the latest addition from the Tharoorosaurus to the Twitter lexicon and he explained the meaning of the word too.
"A quockerwodger was a type of wooden puppet. In politics, a quockerwodger was a politician acting on the instructions of an influential third party, rather than properly representing their constituents.”
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"A useful addition to our political vocabulary!?" Tharoor captioned the photo explaining the meaning of the word that dates back to 1860.
A useful addition to our political vocabulary!? #Quockerwodger pic.twitter.com/iGSCMY6tzA
This is one of the numerous times the parliamentarian has used words like these much to Twitter’s amusement and erudition. Often, he uses them to sting political opponents, leaders and parties.
Another word that Shashi Tharoor has repeatedly used to describe a politician is “snollygoster”. He originally tweeted it in 2017 with the meaning: “a shrewd, unprincipled politician” (US dialect).
“Word of the day! Definition of snollygoster. US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician. First Known Use: 1845. Most recent use: 26/7/17,” he had tweeted.
He used the word again to describe the then Maharashtra political crisis in 2019 and retweeted it with just one change: “Correction: Most recent use: 23 November 2019, Mumbai”.
Both the times, Tharoor, 66, was speculated to be slighting at two Opposition leaders, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2017 and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar in 2019.
Twitter, as usual, went into an overdrive after the Congress leader’s introduced the word, unheard by many.
“When Shashi Tharoor announces a new word, the dictionary upgrades itself! Splendid! Tharoor Sir is an intellectual powerhouse! I never learnt words so easily! The enthusiasm with which Sir describes them I remember their meaning effortlessly,” one user tweeted.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP has also used several other words to hit out at opponents like “anocracy”, “allodoxaphobia”, "kakistocracy" and “troglodyte”.
(With inputs from agencies)