05 November,2020 08:05 AM IST | Kerala | mid-day online correspondent
Shashi Tharoor. Pic/AFP
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor often has people reaching for their dictionaries with his use of long and obscure words - but he may have met his match in this teenager from Kerala. Tharoor's incredible vocabulary has earned him a number of fans, but there are some English words that even he has never heard of. Diya, a student of class 10 from Idukki, introduced him to some such words when the parliamentarian made a surprise appearance during a Club FM show featuring her in conversation with RJ Rafi.
Club FM is a private FM radio station in Kerala. The radio station recently hosted Diya in a Zoom segment with RJ Rafi to showcase her prowess in English.
During the show, Tharoor made a surprise appearance to the 10th grader's evident delight. It is then revealed that Diya had earlier messaged Tharoor on Facebook, asking him to pronounce a super-long word.
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Once on the show, Tharoor had to concede defeat as Diya pronounced the tongue-twister in one go, without stumbling or pausing for breath.
"Which means?" the parliamentarian asked her and she responded by saying that it is the name of a fictional food item.
"It's not a small thing to remember and repeat the word," Tharoor said. He then congratulated her and added: "Everyone wouldn't be able to do it. She has memory power. She has the concentration. My advise is: learn such long words which you can make use of".
Tharoor shared a link to the conversation on Twitter this afternoon, writing: "Wonderful story of brilliant 10th-grader Diya, who has mastered tongue-twisting English words I've never heard of, & for whom I made a surprise appearance during a @clubfmkerala show on her prowess!"
A video of the conversation, posted by Club FM on Facebook, has been widely shared on social media.
"Best wishes Diya for your effort and confidence," wrote one person in the comments section, while another said, "Spectacular."
In the past, Tharoor has been known to introduce the public to long, rarely-used words. The list includes hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, lalochezia, farrago, rodomontade, webaqoof and snollygoster, among others.
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