Shashi Tharoor is famous for many things, but one of his favourite pastimes involves throwing niche words around for people to look up. It always leads to a bit of a media frenzy while also giving us new phrases to use at fancy shindigs. Let’s face it – most of us wouldn’t know what ‘farrago‘ or ‘floccinaucinihilipilification‘ meant if it weren’t for his tweets.
Most recently, he used the word ‘kerfuffle’ in a caption to some photos he tweeted of a trip to the Maldives.
Kerfuffle basically means ‘a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views’. Well, the public bit the bait, and had a few things to say.
Truth be told, this is actually one of the easier words that Tharoor has spouted. School teachers can now say kerfuffle instead of calling their class a fish market!