One for the logophiles

Shashi Tharoor's eponymously titled Tharoorosaurus is a delightful collection of words and interesting tidbits. While not a serious read calling for reflection, it's a useful addition to any logophile's library. This diary of a book may not be the Rolls-Royce of books for word-lovers, but it has its distinctive flavour and charm. Tharoor is a veritable word czar, and that alone suffices to buy a copy of the book. He sure knows his onions when it comes to words, and the English language in general!

The title, at once catchy and clever, betrays what follows inside— a fine collection of some of the most beautiful words of the English language, along with their definitions and related trivia. True to form, Tharoor avoids clutter and cuts to the chase in his customary lapidary style. The result? You guessed right: A prized possession of any logophile. The book should, without a fleck of misgiving, stand proudly beside others of its kind, for it's a valiant attempt at introducing logophiles to some such words as have largely been consigned to the purple passages of a handful of writers.

There would of course be countless others across the country who share a flaming ardour for words and the English language, but Tharoor is the indisputable champion. And yet he prefers to remain modest, as he mentions upfront in his preface to the book that he entertains no such notion of himself as an authority of the English language, and that the book is merely a labour of love for him for words have occupied him since his childhood when his father, an aficionado of words himself, instilled in him a love for them.

Having accumulated the authority of vanguardism of pure and highfalutin English writing and speaking in India, Tharoor comes out with a book that attests his lexical prowess. But it is no scholarly work, as Shashi himself points out in his preface. Instead, it is a fun read— pitched at the logophile and the laity alike— although it would more likely strike a chord with the former. Thus if you crack open the book, you will find such esoteric words as Paracosm, Panglossian, and Defenestrate, among others; a smattering of exoteric words, such as Quiz, Umpire, and Phobia, among others, is also sprinkled interstitially. Of course, Shashi is not all about dishing out a farrago of choice words to the world at large.

He pampers words and manifests his love for them with such thumbnail descriptions as inspire awe. Thus for instance, he dwells upon the history of the nondescript Curfew, traces the origin of the intimidating Floccinaucinihilipilification, and advises on the proper usage of the funny-sounding Kerfuffle. And there is this mischievous word Paraprosdokian, meaning— but hey, why should I be spoiling your pleasure?— go grab a copy already! As well as this, Tharoor presents some of the words with an Indian flavour, which makes the otherwise dour-faced word appear delectable and friendly.

The book delights as it teaches many interesting bits about words. Shashi isn't pontificating when he traces word origins or uses them with the sheer authority of a master, for it's a hard-earned badge: the badge of wordsmithy, wrought on the anvil of effort and time, although it appears at times that he is doing a sashay on the lexical ramp. But sashay he may just as well: he is Shashi, after all!

By: Suhail Khan a civil engineer by profession.