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Hoi polloi (Greek: ), an expression meaning "the many" in Ancient Greek, is used in English to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense. For example, "I've secured a private box for the play so we don't have to watch the show with the hoi polloi."
The phrase originated in English in the early 1800s, a time when it was considered necessary to know Greek and Latin in order to appear well educated. The phrase was originally written in Greek letters.Parket, Allison re:double words? (hoi polloi) Usenet post.Editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition "Blue plate special"; how to use "hoi polloi; "Peck's Bad Boy October 28 2003, Jewish World Review.Lord Byron Lord Byron's Letters and Journals November 24, 1813. Knowledge of these languages would serve to set apart the speaker from the common people who did not have that education.
The phrase has been the source of considerable controversy over its correct usage. One debate has been over the usage of the English article "the" in front of the phrase. Furthermore, the phrase has at times been used to mean the exact opposite of its originally intended meaning.The Literature Network. Synonyms for "hoi polloi" include "Middle America, commonality, commoners, great unwashed, huddled masses, infrastructure, masses, multitude, plebians, proletariat, rabble, rank and file, riffraff, the common people, the herd, the many, the masses, the working class, vulgus".
Questions on usage
Hoi polloi versus the hoi polloi
Since "hoi" means "the", it might be said that the common usage of the hoi polloi is incorrect. However, this later usage is well-established and it is often the case that phrases borrowed from other languages become treated as single words in English.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. The Chicago Manual of style considers the usage "the hoi polloi" to be the standard usage.Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago. (Merriam) Webster's Dictionary of English Usage says:Use in reference to the upper class
Since the 1950s the phrase has often been misused to refer to the upper class, which is the opposite of its actual meaning.Random House Word of the Day.A Word A Day. It has been speculated that this usage has arisen due to similarity between the phrase "hoi polloi" and "high" or "hoity toity".Hoi PolloiBartelbyAppearances in literature
There have been numerous uses of the term in the English Literature. James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans, is often credited with making the first recorded usage of the term in English.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. The first recorded use by Cooper occurs in his 1837 work Gleanings from Europe where he writes "After which the oi polloi are enrolled as they can find interest."Cooper, James Fenimore Gleanings from Europe, 1837.
In actuality Lord Byron previously used the term in his letters and journal. In one letter, dated 24 November 1813, Byron writes "I have not answered W. Scott's last letter,—but I will. I regret to hear from others, that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary involvements. He is undoubtedly the Monarch of Parnassus, and the most English of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list (I value him more as the last of the best school) —Moore and Campbell both third—Southey and Wordsworth and Coleridge—the rest, οι πολλοί polloi in Greek—thus:— (see image reproduced on this page).
Byron also wrote an 1821 entry in his journal "... one or two others, with myself, put on masks, and went on the stage with the 'ol polloi".Lord Byron Detached Thoughts, 1821.
The term has continued to be used in writing up to modern times. Writing the introduction to Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus in 1983, Israel Regardie writes of Wilson, "Once I was even so presumptuous as to warn him in a letter that his humor was much too good to waste on hoi polloi who generally speaking would not understand it and might even resent it. However this effervescent lightness of heart became even more apparent in Cosmic Trigger and more latterly in the trilogy of Schrodinger's Cat. I have sometimes wondered whether his extraordinarily wide range of intellectual roving is too extensive and therefore perplexing to the average reader. Be that as it may, the humor and synthesis are even more marked in this brilliant ambitious piece of writing, Prometheus Rising."Regardie, Israel Introduction Prometheus 1983.
Appearances in film, radio, and the internet
The term has also appeared in several film and radio programs. One of the earliest short films from the Three Stooges was a 1935 film titled Hoi Polloi. The film opens on an exclusive restaurant where two wealthy gentlemen are arguing whether heredity or environment is more important in shaping character.New York Times Movies They make a bet and pick on nearby trashmen (the Stooges) to prove their theory. At the conclusion of three months in training, the Stooges attend a dinner party, where they thoroughly embarrass the professors.
The University of Dayton's Don Morlan says, "The theme in these shorts of the Stooges against the rich," says Morlan, "is bringing the rich down to their level and shaking their heads." A typical Stooges joke from the film would be when someone addressed them as "Gentlemen," they'd look over their shoulders to see who was meant.von Busack, Richard, Pure Slap Shtik Metro Santa Cruz - January 16-22, 1997. The Stooges turn the tables on their hosts by calling them "hoi polloi" at the end.
The term "Hoi Polloi" was used in a dramatic scene in the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society. In this scene, Professor Keating speaks negatively about the use of the article "the" in front of the phrase:
- Keating: This is battle, boys. War! You are souls at a critical juncture. Either you will succumb to the will\shave hoi polloi and the fruit will die on the vine—or you will triumph as individuals. It may be a coincidence that part of my duties are to teach you about Romanticism, but let me assure you that I take the task quite seriously. You will learn what this school wants you to learn in my class, but if I do my job properly, you will also learn a great deal more. You will learn to savor language and words because they are the stepping stones to everything you might endeavor to do in life and do well. A moment ago I used the term 'hoi polloi.' Who knows what it means? Come on, Overstreet, you twirp. (laughter) Anderson, are you a man or a boil?
- Anderson shakes his head "no", but Meeks raises his hands and speaks: "The hoi polloi. Doesn't it mean the herd?"
- Keating: Precisely, Meeks. Greek for the herd. However, be warned that, when you say "the hoi polloi" you are actually saying "the the herd". Indicating that you too are "hoi polloi".Schulman, Tom Excerpts from the script of Dead Poets Society.
Keating's tone makes clear that he considers this statement to be an insult. He himself had used the phrase "the term 'hoi polloi.'", so he had not used the article "the" directly in front of "hoi polloi". Keating's phrase would be translated as "the term the herd", which would be grammatically correct.
The August 14, 2001 episode of CNN's Larry King Live program included a discussion about whether the sport of polo was an appropriate part of the image of the British Royal Family. Joining King on the program were "best-selling biographer and veteran royal watcher Robert Lacey" and Kittey Kelley, author of the book The Royals. Their discussions focused on Prince Charles and his son Prince William.
- Lacey said, "There is another risk that I see in polo. Polo is a very nouveau rich, I think, rather vulgar game. I can say that having played it myself, and I don't think it does Prince Charles's image, or, I dare say, this is probably arrogant of me, his spirit any good. I don't think it is a good thing for him to be involved in. I also, I'm afraid, don't think is a good thing for [Charles to be encouraging his sons to get involved in. It is a very "playboy" set. We saw Harry recently all night clubbing, and why not, some might say, playing polo down in south of Spain. I think the whole polo syndrome is something that the royal family would do very well to get uninvolved with as soon as possible.
- King turned the question to Kelley, saying, "Kitty, it is kind of hoi polloi, although it is an incredible support in which, I have been told, that the horse is 80 percent of the game, the rider 20 percent. But it is a great sport to watch. But it is hoi polloi isn't it?"
- To which Kelley replied, "Yes, I do agree with Robert. The time is come and gone for the royals to be involved with Polo. I mean it is -- it just increases that dissipated aristo-image that they have, and it is too of bad to encourage someone like Prince William to get involved."Larry King Live
This conversation associating polo with the hoi polloi is surprising. On a stone tablet next to a polo ground in Gilgit, north of Kashmir, near the fabled silk route from China to the West is inscribed the verse "Let other people play at other things — the King of Games is still the Game of Kings". Polo is still referred to as the Game of Kings.Polo Comes Back Home to Iran - BBC 22 September 2005. The modern sport has had difficulty grappling with the traditional social and economic exclusivity commonly associated with a game that is inevitably expensive when played at a serious level. Still, it is clear that they are using hoi polloi in its correct meaning as Lacey calls the sport "vulgar" and Kelley says that the time for royals to be involved in polo has "come and gone".
Jack Cafferty, CNN anchorman was caught misusing the term. On 9 December 2004 he retracted his statement, "And hoi-polloi refers to common people, not those rich morons that are evicting those two red-tail hawks (ph) from that 5th Avenue co-ops. I misused the word hoi-polloi. And for that I humbly apologize."American Morning Transcript
New media and new inventions have also been described as being by or for the hoi polloi. Bob Garfield, co-host of NPR's On the Media program, 8 November 2005, used the phrase in reference to evolving practices in the media, especially Wikipedia, "The people in the encyclopedia business, I understand, tend to sniff at the wiki process as being the product of the mere hoi polloi."On the Media The blog Isengard.gov referred to the PC" target="_blank" >* project as being for kids and the hoi polloi. The post went on to refer to the correct usage of the phrase, "*Although we at Isengard.gov are using the Greek phrase hoi polloi in its correct meaning of "the common people," rather than the incorrect but more hoi-polloish meaning of "the hoity-toities," "the fancy-living types," the "ravenous blood-sucking leeches fattening their stomachs on the backs of the masses," or "THE ARISTOCRATS!," it does not, in and of itself, indicate that we are insufferable smarty-pants. That may be established by independent means."User "Sea Lord" - The Handcranked Laptop Isengard.gov 29 September 2005
Other uses
- Hoi Polloi is also also the name of many businesses, including a theatre company based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom,Hoipolloi Theatre. a dance group based in Boston, Massachusetts,Hoi Polloi dance group. a woman's boutique in New Orleans, Louisiana,Hoi Polloi boutique. and a film crew in the United Kingdom.Hoi Polloi film crew.
- Oi Polloi is a Scottish anarcho-punk group, whose name is a pun on the term, and also Oi! music.
- Hoi Polloi was an alternative gospel band also. Alternative gospel band Hoi Polloi was formed in New Zealand by vocalist Jenny Gullen, her husband, bassist Andrew Horst, guitarist David Ball and drummer Jozsef Fityus. Moving to the U.S., Hoi Polloi performed their first gig at the 1990 Cornerstone Festival and signed to the gospel label Reunion soon after. A restrictive contract, however, forced the band into two albums that overly polished their rugged, rootsy sound, Hoi Polloi (1992) and Spin Me (1993).
- Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard claimed the existence of a race of extra-terrestrial invaders known as the Hoipolloi.
References
"Hoi polloi"