The names of drugs used in COVID-19 treatment are in the news constantly, evoking a sense of gloom and despair. But for once, the names have led to a moment of hilarity on Twitter. Telangana minister and Working President of the TRS, KT Rama Rao, posted the names of these drugs and wondered who had come up with such complicated names. The needle of suspicion fell on Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is well-known for using polysyllabic words that no one has heard of before.
"Posaconazole, Cresemba, Tocilzumab, Remdesivir, Liposomal Amphoterecin, Flavipiravir, Molnupiravir, Baricitinib...And the list goes on..." KTR tweeted, asking who had come up with such unpronounceable names. In his next tweet, he said that he feels Shashi Tharoor "pakka" has something to do with it.
Taking the joke in his stride, Shashi Tharoor declared himself not guilty and added two new words to everyone's vocabulary: floccinaucinihilipilification and procrustean. He also used the opportunity to take a jibe at Baba Ramdev and the BJP, quipping that if left to him, he would have named the drugs 'CoroNil', 'CoroZero' or even 'GoCoroNaGo'.
On a lighter note, any idea who comes up with this unpronounceable names for meds?
— KTR (@KTRTRS) May 20, 2021
- Posaconazole
- Cresemba
- Tocilzumab
- Remdesivir
- Liposomal Amphoterecin
- Flavipiravir
- Molnupiravir
- Baricitinib
And the list goes on...
I suspect @ShashiTharoor Ji Pakka has a role to play in this https://t.co/zO024Pq0Oa
— KTR (@KTRTRS) May 20, 2021
Not guilty! How can you indulge in such floccinaucinihilipilification, @KTRTRS? Left to me I'd happily call them "CoroNil", "CoroZero", & even "GoCoroNaGo!" But these pharmacists are more procrustean.... https://t.co/YrIFSoVquo
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 21, 2021
We will save you the effort of finding a dictionary. 'Floccinaucinihilipilification' means 'the action or habit of estimating something as worthless' while 'procrustean' means 'enforcing uniformity or conformity without regard to natural variation or individuality'.
Shashi Tharoor's penchant for using rare words inspired publishing house Penguin to get the author to write a book called Tharoorosaurus which has a list of unusual words, their meanings, origin and even anecdotes.
The exchange between KTR and Tharoor led to much mirth on the social media platform, with followers interjecting with their own complicated words and jokes.
Even dictionary is updated regularly based on what @ShashiTharoor talks. I wonder how he memorize these words and use it accurately
— George Mathew (@georgejottu) May 20, 2021
Chalo duh to make it more conundrum. I love ur tweets & makes me go supercalifragilisticexpialidocious persuing &being a polymath is the one Keralites are being thru &u too r a fellow keralite man. Such joie de vivre & magnoperate ppl #kerala
— Syed Mohiuddin سيد محي الدين (@the_speaker25) May 20, 2021
He is clearly trying to gabiomilisting and frutiosioplating to hipolkate and mebotionate the CM's image.
— Jeevitham (@pizza_dosa) May 21, 2021
Thank you
That's pronounced as
— Giridhar (@thegiridhar7) May 21, 2021
"Flox-sinau-sini-hili-pilification"
Thank me later
Last time i saw a longest word is Thiruvananthapuram, now this flocci......ma ki c#@#@ pic.twitter.com/Owb9f5f2jk
— Hitesh (@Hit_Wicket0) May 21, 2021