Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday described ‘quockerwodger’ as the ‘word of our era’, adding that he thinks ‘our ruling party has spawned a few of these in the last dozen years.’ Tharoor as perhaps referring to the (BJP) ruling at the centre since 2014.
“Word of our era! I think our ruling party has spawned a few of these in the last dozen years…” wrote on X sharing the word ‘quockerwodger’ and its meaning as an attachment.
“A political puppet, a person who is controlled by someone else and acts on their instructions,” the meaning of the word in the attachment read.
But what exactly does ‘quockerwodger’ mean?
A , ‘quockerwodger’ originally referred to a wooden toy puppet – a jointed figure whose arms and legs jerk or dance when manipulated by strings.
Tharoor’s exact reference in Sunday’s post was not immediately known.
The word later acquired a figurative political meaning: a person, particularly a politician, who lacks independent will and is controlled or directed by someone else.
In political usage, therefore, calling someone a ‘quockerwodger’ suggests that they are essentially a puppet politician, acting according to the instructions or wishes of another person rather than independently.
Tharoor, the and an accompalished author, has a widely celebrated command of the English language, known for his vast vocabulary, complex sentence structures, and sharp eloquence.
The former Union Minister frequently uses sophisticated, uncommon words that often prompt people to look up a dictionary, leading to viral internet moments and popular coinages which inspired his book Tharoorosaurus.
There have been exceptions through. Tharoor has made grammatical errors in recent past.
Tharoor made an error while extending birthday greetings to on social media. On September 17, Tharoor wrote a warm message for the PM but managed to jumble up his prepositions.
Instead of writing “on his 76th birthday,” Tharoor’s typo included the use of “in his 76th birthday” – an error that was quickly caught by social media users.
One of the users highlighted the mistake, stating that even Tharoor could make a mistake. “Shashi ji made a grammar mistake!!! Even if it is fat finger!!!” the user wrote.
Acknowledging the mistake, Tharoor replied: “Yea “on” his birthday became “in”. This happens all the time alas.”
