Yahoo News Boris Johnson's 11 most florid phrases, as the Foreign Secretary pokes fun at his love of long words
Boris Johnson is known for frequently indulging in sesquipedalian turns of phrase that tend to be as flowery as his jogging shorts.
The Foreign Secretary’s latest fitness attire seems to confirm he also wears his reputation for creative circumlocutions as a badge of honour. This morning the 53-year-old was photographed wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with one of the longest words in the English language while jogging around Westminster.
It read: “Meaningless ‘hippomonstrosesquippedaliophobia’ slogan - fear of long words.”
Alternatively, the T-shirt could also be read as a humorous rejoinder to potential future Tory leadership rival Jacob Rees-Mogg, who also has a reputation for verbal flamboyance.
Mr Rees-Mogg, who has gained 'Moggmentum' in recent months, once held the record for the longest word used in Parliament - floccinaucinihilipilification - the action or habit of estimating something as worthless.
Not to be outdone, Mr Johnson's latest verbose offering has upped the anti by four syllables. For those wondering where this syllabic arms race will end, probably with pneumonoultramicroscopicsilico: a medical word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles from a volcano - and thought to be the longest in our language.
As linguistic peacocking is apparently now emerging as a key battleground in any future Conservative Party leadership contest, here’s a look back at Mr Johnson’s greatest grandiloquent highlights:
On Jeremy Corbyn
Before June’s election, Mr Johnson was less than complimentary when asked to describe Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in less than 30 words.
He took a pop at the left-winger’s trademark £1.50 white vests, his admiration of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and accused him of hijacking the Labour Party leadership contest.
“A Chavez-admiring curiously-vested leader of a sleeper cell of crypto-communists who piratically captured the Labour Party.”
On the London Assembly
In 2013, the then-Mayor of London berated London Assembly members, calling them “great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies”.
Mr Johnson was ejected from the meeting early after members voted against a two-hour grilling on his budget decisions.
On Mr Corbyn (again)
Mr Johnson called the Labour leader a “mutton-headed old mugwump” back in April, leaving some Harry Potter fans confused.
However, it’s actually a political put-down, meaning:
“A person who remains aloof or independent, especially from party politics. But as it rhymes with ‘chump’, it can be used to mean ‘idiot’.”
On the EU
The Foreign Secretary previously wore a T-shirt written in French featuring references from Tintin in response to a jibe from the EU over Britain's choice to leave the alliance.
“Blistering barnacles! Shiver me timbers! Landlubbers? Old soak! Lightweight ?! Waffle iron! Coconuts! Wimp! ... Oddball! Scoundrel!” it said.
On The Shard
Back in 2013, Mr Johnson had this description for the newly-opened Shard in London Bridge:
“Prodding up through the frail integuments of the planet, like an intergalactic spear. It’s like the tip of a cocktail stick emerging through the skin of a super colossal pickled onion,” he said.
On Labour’s education policy
“More hot air than the wind section of the London Philharmonic,” Boris mocks Labour's music manifesto in 2004.
On ever becoming Prime Minister
Despite being perennially linked with someday assuming residence in Number 10 Downing Street, Mr Johnson has always played down his chances of becoming the Prime Minister.
“My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive,” he famously remarked.
On his oratory skills
The former London mayor got his revenge on Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had previously criticised his oratory skills, in 2008.
“My speaking style was criticised by no less an authority than Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a low moment, my friends, to have my rhetorical skills denounced by a monosyllabic Austrian cyborg,” he quipped.
On Ukip
“I can hardly condemn Ukip as a bunch of boss-eyed, foam-flecked Euro-hysterics, when I have been sometimes not far short of boss-eyed, foam-flecked hysteria myself.”
On the EU
“It is a stitch-up. It is the biggest stitch-up since the Bayeux Tapestry.”
On voting Tory
“Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.”
