Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has introduced us all to a "new word", it's "condern."
On Monday, businessman and columnist Suhel Seth met Shashi Tharoor. He shared an update about the meeting on X.
"Just met Shashi Tharoor and am conderned about his throat: he's nursing a cold," Mr Seth posted.
Picking up on the typo, the Thiruvananthapuram MP responded, "Thank you for your condern, @suhelseth! Grateful that you condign to be conderned! Watch out some may condemn you for that!"
What many first assumed to be a simple slip of the thumb quickly revealed itself to be part of a running joke between the two. The word "condern" traces its origins to a June 26 post by Mr Tharoor himself, in which he wrote: "Conderned to hear from friends that Naveen Patnaik has just undergone surgery, but relieved that he is now doing well."
Mr Seth, never one to miss a linguistic slip, quickly commented, "What's 'conderned', good sir? New word?"
Mr Tharoor confessed, "Concerned, when typed with a fat and careless thumb!"
The typo has since evolved into a shared bit of wordplay between the two, with each leaning into the joke.
This wasn't the first time the duo bantered publicly. In an earlier interaction, Mr Tharoor tweeted about a Facebook Live session, saying: "Those whom missed it can view it at leisure..."
Mr Seth, quick to spot the grammatical misstep, pointed out that "whom" was incorrect in that context, "who" would have been the proper choice. Mr Tharoor graciously accepted the correction, admitting it was a "typo," not a grammatical mistake.
Shashi Tharoor has often referred to himself as a "linguaphile" or "wordsmith." In interviews, he has claimed, "I'm besotted with words; it is fair to say that I love them."
His book Tharoorosaurus, a compendium of 53 exotic words, became a viral hit. When he once used the word "farrago" (meaning a confused mixture), it led to a massive spike in searches on the Oxford English Dictionary's website.
