Unhappy with Tharoor’s ‘Squeamish’ Tweet, Left-backed Fishermen Take to the Streets

Thiruvananthapuram: Undeterred by the blazing sun, a group of Left-affiliated fishermen is marching ahead in protest in Thiruvananthapuram in an apparent bid to wipe off a blot on their escutcheon caused by a scholarly candidate’s dexterity in diction.

All hell broke loose a couple of days ago after Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor paid a visit to fish vendors in the city’s famous Connemara market as part of campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

There was little to do with the meeting, but with the way he expressed his feelings about the meeting on Twitter.

He wrote, “Found a lot of enthusiasm at the fish market, even for a squeamishly vegetarian MP!"

The polyglot, who often finds himself in the eye of the storm, has once again invited the wrath of social media users for the ‘inappropriate’ use of the word ‘squeamish’.

Their grouse — Tharoor has chosen an ornamental word to communicate his disgust towards the odorous fish market and those engaged in the business.

Tharoor, who was busy campaigning in the southern district of Kerala that is will soon witness a neck-and-neck triangular fight for the 2019 general election, himself has come forward with another tweet mentioning the Malayalam meaning of the word ‘squeamishly’ with an accompanying screenshot of the meaning.

“For those Malayali leftist politicians who are currently having difficulty understanding my English!"

According to an English to Malayalam online dictionary Olam, the word translates to ‘genuinely’ as well as ‘annoyingly’.

The entire world, especially Malayalis, are all ears every time Tharoor mouths a not-so-familiar word in English.

The latest addition before ‘squeamishly’ came a few days ago, when a Kerala professor quit after she was told to handle Ph.D topics pertaining to ‘national priorities’.

He called for a protest to vote out the ‘troglodytes’ out. Troglodyte is defined as ‘a person who is regarded as being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned’.

In May 2017, while lashing out at journalist Arnab Goswami, Tharoor had written, “Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations & outright lies being broadcast by an unprincipled showman masquerading as a journalist".

Perhaps, the first time he started off the trend was in 2009, when the former United Nations Under Secretary General landed all the way to Kerala to contest (and win) the Lok Sabha election.

In a country where millions travel in ordinary class, Tharoor was asked if he would do the same on his next visit to the southern state.

Pat came the reply. “Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!"

The harmless ‘holy cow’ soon got added to the vocabulary of the English-loving tribe as an advanced word to express wonder.

Over the years, ‘Tharoorian’ jargons familiarised the public with puerile, snollygoster, rodomontade, webaqoof, floccinaucinihilipilification and hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.