The New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Nhyiaeso in the Ashanti Region, Stephen Amoah alias Sticka, left his fellow MPs and the Speaker perplexed last Friday when he used the word “Floccinaucinihilipilification” during a heated debate in Parliament.
The word, which refers to the act of estimating something as worthless, seemed to catch everyone off guard, with many MPs looking puzzled and the Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, struggling to keep a straight face.
The MP, who is also a Deputy Minister of Finance, used the word while arguing against an opposition motion on Electrochem Ghana’s salt project at Ada, leaving many wondering whether he was trying to show off his vocabulary or simply confusing his opponents.
An opposition MP for Odododiodio, Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who was taken aback when he heard the word, drew the Speaker’s attention after an unsuccessful attempt to Google it to understand what he meant.
“Mr. Speaker, the word he used, nobody understands it – Ossico-sco-sco-sco-sco-sco,” Mr. Vanderpuye added, pointing at Sticka, as the House erupted into frenzy.
The Speaker, trying to maintain order, asked the Nhyiaeso MP to repeat the word, which he did, and explained the meaning to the House.
“The meaning of the word is, an exercise conducted without any fruit, wordless exercise. Anything that will not yield the needed results, and the word is floccinaucinihilipilification,” he explained.
But Speaker Bagbin, who was left more confused, dryly remarked, “I am rather tempted to believe that this is a coinage from you. It’s a construct of your language, not English language.”
Sticka retorted, “Mr. Speaker, respectfully, anybody can check from the English dictionary.”
But Mr. Bagbin, who was not convinced, said, “You may have to draw my attention to it. The way you spell that word is not in any Oxford dictionary.”
The Nhyiaeso MP established that he has a vast vocabulary, taking the focus from the debate at hand, saying, “Mr. Speaker, respectfully, it can be googled here. Anybody can google and check.”
“Mr. Speaker, they want to write. So, I’ll do that for them. Okay, Mr. Speaker, with your permission, I would like them to write and check.
“The word is Floccinaucinihilipilification and the spelling is F-L-O-C-C-I-N-A-U-C-I-N-I-H-I-L-I-P-I-L-I-F-I-C-A-T-I-O-N.
“It simply means worthless exercise – exercise that is not yielding any results. And I think such exercises are dysfunctional to the performance of our Republic.
“And I’m admonishing my brothers that in times such as this, let us all build the needed cohesion that will be functional to building our own country, and not just incite other people against the focus that we need, as a country, to build the same economy that they will benefit from as a result,” he submitted.
Despite the initial confusion, the debate continued, with some MPs good-naturedly teasing MP Sticka about his “big word.”
The incident has since gone viral on social media, with many Ghanaians praising MP Sticka’s linguistic skills while others joked about needing a dictionary to follow parliamentary debates.
It appeared the NPP MP wanted to add some flavour to the discussion, hence the need for legislators to upgrade their vocabulary in Parliament.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House