They name him Mr English and Mr Tough Phrases. He enjoys each little bit of the adulation and awe his command over language evokes. An avid cricket fan, Shashi Tharoor loves throwing a curveball wrapped in powerful phrases and unheard-of expressions at his viewers each infrequently, and he’s cherished for that.
And he has a counterpart in Nepal. The Finance Minister of the Himalayan nation, Dr. Swarnim Wagle, is named the Shashi Tharoor of Nepal for his proficient use of the English language and penchant for utilizing powerful phrases.
So, what occurs when the OG Tharoor meets Nepal’s Tharoor on the stage of NDTV World’s Anviksha Summit in Kathmandu?
Nicely, light-hearted banter loaded with massive phrases.
Pattern this:
Grand larceny.
Nepal’s Finance Minister threw the phrase in, saying it is typically mimicked and used.
#NDTVWorldAnviksha | Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle (@SwarnimWagle) is Nepal’s ‘Shashi Tharoor’? Watch this candid banter between the Nepal minister and Congress MP#NDTVAnviksha #IdeasAcrossBorders #IndiaNepalDialogue | @rahulkanwal | @AdityaRajKaul pic.twitter.com/BSJbhuUb9c
— NDTV (@ndtv) August 27, 2026
Tharoor recommended it along with his trademark wit: “Higher utilized by a finance minister than a pacesetter of the opposition,” stated the Congress MP.
If you’re nonetheless questioning, grand larceny is the legal theft of property whose worth is larger than a selected statutory restrict set by regulation, making it a felony.
Tharoor then threw in certainly one of his personal.
Defenestrate.
To throw somebody out of the window.
“You defenestrated the previous Prime Minister,” Tharoor stated, evoking laughter from the Minister and the viewers.
Wagle and Tharoor then went right into a masterclass on the oft-used German phrase “Schadenfreude”, which, Tharoor informed the room, means “the sensation of pleasure or satisfaction you get when one thing dangerous occurs to a different particular person”.
Whereas the Nepal Finance Minister stated there in all probability is not any phrase in English that aptly captures the identical that means, Tharoor was fast to level out that there’s actually an English phrase for “Schadenfreude”, which “even the English do not use”.
“Epicaricacy” – the English phrase for “Schadenfreude” – Shashi Tharoor, donning a Nepali topi, knowledgeable the viewers.
“However in addition they use schadenfreude as an alternative of epicaricacy, as generally a French or a German phrase comes extra naturally to an Englishman than the English phrase,” Tharoor added.
Wagle then added that he had requested a few of his linguist mates whether or not “Schadenfreude” will be translated into Nepali, however they did not succeed.
Calling himself a fan of Shashi Tharoor, Dr. Swarnim Wagle stated he has been attempting to observe in his footsteps. Tharoor acknowledged Wagle’s admiration with a nod of the top and a hand on his coronary heart.
