4 ms·
it's problematic, because people use it to mean the commoners (the prolitariat) and the snooty (the few). It doesn't matter that the latter is technically wron
by logicallee 12y ago
it's problematic, because people use it to mean the commoners (the prolitariat) and the snooty (the few). It doesn't matter that the latter is technically wrong - it's where you're likely to hear it in conversation.
it's like the phrase "fulsome praise". Can't really use it. is it lavish, or overdone/excessive?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fulsome http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fulsome
- deathcakes 12y agoAlso it is frequently misused - hoi polloi means 'the masses' but people always say 'the hoi polloi', meaning the the masses. </pedantry>
- logicallee 12y agoso use hoi polloi 'correctly' as a noun in a sentence, without 'the' for me. This pedantic objection is just another reason not to ever use the phrase. You just can't. :)
- deathcakes 12y ago"This is something hoi polloi would enjoy" May sound weird but thats only because people have been using it incorrectly for so long.
- logicallee 12y agoAnd what does "This is something hoi polloi would enjoy" mean for you? :) what kind of example things would you say that of?
- robmcm 12y agoIt's like some kind of retro RAS Syndrome
- illumen 12y ago... and now literally means figuratively. Language is silly.
- sanoli 12y agoBecause internet.
- riffraff 12y agomy favourite: "egregious" meant "outstandingly good" (which it still does in languages other then english), and now means "very bad".
- RyanMcGreal 12y agoAnother one is "terrific", which used to mean "causing terror" but now refers to something big and impressive.
- psykovsky 12y agoMaybe in your country, but not in mine.
- eli 12y ago"Literally" has actually been used informally in that sense for a few hundred years.
- michaelochurch 12y ago"Snob" used to mean a low-class pretender, not a jerk of high social class. The abbreviation was "S. Nob", or "without nobility". (Sine is Latin for "without.")