the hoi polloi

The Monetary Economics of Thurston Howell III

By B.K. Marcus

Posted on 8/31/2004
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Gilligan's Island is now out on DVD, reawakening the unanswered questions of childhood: why does the Skipper let Gilligan help with anything when he knows he'll just screw it up? Why did the movie star take a day cruise in an evening gown? Why did two of the richest people in the world board a dinky boat with the hoi polloi instead of leasing a private yacht? And why do any of the other stranded castaways treat the millionaire's government money as valuable while stuck on an island where no such government can enforce its value? [...]

From: Zelaniec
Subject: Hoi polloi
Date: September 1, 2004 5:09:22 AM EDT
To: bkMarcus

Dear Mr. Marcus,

re your article on Monetary Politics of Thurston Howell III:

'the hoi polloi' means 'the the many'. 'Hoi polloi' alone would do.

Sincerely
Wojciech Zelaniec
Zielona Gora, Poland

A.Word.A.Day--hoi polloi

This week's theme: words with a built-in definite article.

hoi polloi (hoi puh-LOI) noun

The common people, the masses.

[From Greek hoi polloi (the many).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus.

The phrase is often mistakenly used to refer to the elite or the snobbish, quite opposite of what it really means. That usage arises probably from the first part sounding similar to "high" or from confusion with the term hoity toity.

The term often appears as "the hoi polloi". Some pedants object to that construction, claiming "the" is already part of the term. If you find such people, tell them to go study gebra and drink cohol.

-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)