Re: Laughable
Except that the author was writing in English, not Greek. And English, with its own special way of rifling thorugh other peoples' languages and stealing bits it likes, has appropriated "hoi polloi" as a phrase. "The hoi polloi" has additional meaning beyond simply "the the people", and has come to mean "the Great Unwashed", "the common folk", even "the plebs", to further rile classicists.
The phrase came from outside English, where it had a different meaning. Now it is within English we will use and abuse it, and change its meaning over time. And there is nothing petty-minded "language purists" can do about it.
So yah boo sucks to you!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
