Hoi polloi is a Greek expression (
οἱ πολλοί) meaning "the many" or "the majority." It's used in English to denote the common people, usually in a derogatory sense. As uncommon as the phrase is, it has come up twice this week: in Sunday school when the teacher read it but didn't know what it meant (I did, fortunately) and in a book I'm re-reading. This is from page xxxi of
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (1979):
"[Gnostics] ... typically characterized themselves as 'the few' in relation to 'the many' (hoi polloi)."
I want a tee-shirt like the one pictured here!
Hoi polloi is a Greek expression (οἱ πολλοί) meaning "the many" or "the majority." It's used in English to denote the common people, usually in a derogatory sense. As uncommon as the phrase is, it has come up twice this week: in Sunday school when the teacher read it but didn't know what it meant (I did, fortunately) and in a book I'm re-reading. This is from page xxxi of The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (1979):
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