def getTamilWords( tweet ):
        """" word needs to all be in the same tamil language """
        tweet = TamilTweetParser.cleanupPunct( tweet );
        nonETwords = filter( lambda x: len(x) > 0 , re.split(r'\s+',tweet) );#|"+|\'+|#+
        tamilWords = filter( TamilTweetParser.isTamilPredicate, nonETwords );
        return tamilWords