Shashi Tharoor’s ‘snollygoster’ amuses Twitter, some think it’s a jibe at Nitish Kumar

Some were all praises for his linguistic skills, others thought the word was intended as a jibe at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

After farrago and webaqoof, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is known for his impressive vocabulary, has taken to Twitter to define another difficult word snollygoster.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is known for his impressive vocabulary, has taken to Twitter to define another difficult word snollygoster. (HT Filephoto)

“Word of the day! Definition of *snollygoster*. US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician. First Known Use: 1845. Most recent use: 26/7/17,” the Congress MP tweeted on Thursday.

Some were all praises for his linguistic skills, others thought the word was intended as a jibe at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. The Janata Dal(United) chief broke away from the Mahagathbandhan or the grand alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress and returned to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) despite being foes for a long time.

Kumar’s move came after RJD chief Lalu Prasad rejected the demand for his son and deputy chief minister Tejashwi’s resignation over alleged railway hotel tender scam.

Twitter users first got a taste of Tharoor’s linguistic prowess when he used an eloquent tweet to slam TV journalist Arnab Goswami’s reporting on his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death.

“Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies being broadcast by an unprincipled showman masquerading as a journalist,” he posted in May this year.

The effect of his tweet was such that it spiked the Google search results for the word farrago.

Earlier, he gave another sample of his wordplay with the word ‘webaqoof’, which was aimed at people who believe everything on the internet without fact-checking.