You know how Shashi Tharoor, MP from Trivandrum is constantly teaching us new words? Along with his exceedingly posh and plummy accent, the man has a showoff-worthy vocabulary. So much so, that a term has been coined for this– Tharoorism. He has unveiled many words such as sesquipedalian, rodomontade, schadenfreude, farrago, floccinaucinihilipilification (a word I now know but still cannot pronounce) etc. And now there is pogonotrophy.
This Twitter user wanted to learn a new word.
Pogonotrophy has to do with the growth and grooming of facial hair such as a beard. Tharoor made a reference to the Prime Minister’s ‘pandemic preoccupation’.
Because why not.
Some felt that the growth of the PM’s beard in 2021 was perhaps based on a desire to emulate Tagore and ingratiate himself with the voters in West Bengal. There were other creative interpretations as well, but it is certainly true that the beard now allows us to date photographs quite accurately.
They thought that commenting upon someone’s personal grooming choice is puerile – as in immature or childish. Fair point.
Clearly, the lion referred to is the PM. Not being able to ‘beard’ said lion seems to refer to the Congress’s continuing inability to present a viable alternative to the BJP or even to perform the office of an effective opposition at the centre.
While the PM’s hirsute (meaning hairy, since people are showing off their vocabularies) stylings may be very deliberate, for others it may be a matter of compulsion. Access to barbers and salons has been highly restricted over the past year and a half for us the common folk.
This tweet points out that the growth trajectory of the now-famous beard and the correlation it seems to have to price rise and economic growth.
There are many admirers of Tharoor around, clearly.
Posting this here just in case, one hasn’t seen this famous and rousing speech Shashi Tharoor made at the Oxford Union some years back. It has been wildly viral for years now and gives us an insight into the nascence (origin) of the Tharoorism phenomenon that we see from time to time.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
