Congress MP Shashi Tharoor New Word Of The Day

Jul 21, 2022, 12:26 IST

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor who is well-known for his vast knowledge in complex vocabulary, took to Twitter to give a brief SEO lesson on how to bypass content algorithms in social media. He shared his latest ‘word of the day’- algospeak.

The Kerala MP explained the meaning of algospeak as a “Word used on social media posts to avoid using another that algorithms may identify as unsuitable or inappropriate, in order to bypass downranking by content moderation filters on social media platforms. Eg using “unalive” rather than ‘dead’,” Tharoor tweeted.

#WordOfTheDay:
*algospeak* [noun]:
word used on social media posts to avoid using another that algorithms may identify as unsuitable or inappropriate, in order to bypass downranking by content moderation filters on social media platforms. Eg. using “unalive” rather than “dead.”

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 20, 2022

While many social media users were amused by the word of the day, some others have found it to have a reference to the recent unparliamentary words row after the Union Government released a list of words deemed unfit for use in Parliament. “People rather resort to writing words something like “de@d”. Using “unalive” should be interesting,” commented a user. Another user commented, “When I was in school, during attendance instead of saying ‘Present Ma’am’, I use to say ‘Not Absent Ma’am’ as a joke.”

This word comes relevant in the context of usage of certain words which are flagged down by social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and which are construed to be violent or derogatory. For example, one can replace the word suicide with 'took one’s life', rape with sexual assault. It is interesting to note that the Congress MP brought up this word at the time of the Parliament Monsoon Sessions. The Lok Sabha Secretariat on July 14 released a list of words considered unparliamentary and which were not to be used during the proceedings. The Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker will have the final word in removing words and expressions.