#LanguageChallenge: Tharoor gets schooled by Twitter for Malayalam blooper

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is famous for introducing English vocabulary to mainstream public discourse. And it is not unusual for his followers to look up words such as farrago, floccinaucinihilipilification and rodomontade in the good-old dictionaries or even trend these words on Google search. Netizens have even coined the term "Tharoorian English" to refer to his style of highly sophisticated use of English vocabulary. 

However, on Friday, wordsmith Tharoor had to correct his Malayalam after he initiated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's language challenge on Twitter. Readily taking up Modi's challenge during the Manorama News Conclave 2019, Tharoor tweeted, "In response to the PM’s #LanguageChallenge, I will tweet a word daily in English, Hindi & Malayalam. Others can do this in other languages. Here is the 1st one: 

Pluralism (English)

बहुलवाद

bahulavaad (Hindi)

ബഹുവചനം

bahuvachanam (Malayalam)".

Tharoor's choice of the word "pluralism" rang a bell as the Narendra Modi government is facing a lot of flak for its lackadaisical approach in dealing with elements that are threatening the social fabric of the country. 

However, soon after the tweet, enthusiastic Keralites schooled Tharoor as the Malayalam word he used was, in fact, the equivalent of "plural" and not "pluralism". Tharoor was quick to accept his gaffe and sportingly tweeted, "Ok here’s part of my #LanguageChallenge: there are often better options for a particular word. Pluralism is better translated in Malayalam as ബഹുസ്വരത (bahuswarata, many voices) than as ബഹുവചനം (many things)."

What was perhaps originally intended as a lesson in pluralism for Modi, ended up as a lesson in Malayalam for Tharoor.