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DJWriter
The blog of Chicago-based freelance copywriter and author David Johnsen.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Misused Word Of The Day - Hoi Polloi
Context: "If the people are too hoi polloi to ride the train as it is, they can probably afford a cab."
I won't embarrass the author by name, but this was in an e-mail discussion of whether proposed express train service from downtown Chicago to O'Hare Airport is a worthwhile transit investment. Alas, what he said was the opposite of what he meant (we'll set aside the issue of making the noun into an adjective). Hoi polloi means "the common people," "the general populace," "the masses." That makes this misusage particularly amusing--he was implying that some people are too "of the masses" to ride mass transit!
I see this word misused so often that I occasionally look it up just to remind myself that I am using it correctly. How did this misunderstanding arise? Perhaps hoi polloi (which is Greek) sounds too exotic to refer to ordinary people. Or maybe it is incorrectly associated with the snobbish, elitist connotations of hoity-toity.
Labels: language
- posted by David Johnsen @ 12:18 PM
