Greek for "the majority".
Usually this means " the ignorant masses", or "the common people" and is used by somebody who thinks that he or she is above them.
The really cool thing about
this is that most of the
pretentious pricks who like to use the term don't know what it means, so they say things like:
"The hoi polloi are necessary for
the rest of us who actually run the country", or "Without the hoi polloi, life would be less good"
Because the word "hoi" is "the", there's no need to use "the" when saying or writing this.
So those people who use it in that way prove that they are ignorant and uneducated baboons themselves. Don'cha just love it?
George " We are glad to have the hoi polloi because without them we would not maintain our own standards and would have to do menial work."
Chuck "You
pretentious dickwad, I just love it when you kick yourself
in the ass, and don't even know it!"
George " What are you talking about? I imagine you are one of the hoi polloi I was talking about!"
Chuck "Stop it, I'm
pissing myself!"
