Fwd: interesting turn for "hoi polloi"

[Brenda Lester]

so imbedded in American speech as to have completely
reversed its meaning to be, instead:  "elite class" or "high society."
AM

  Am I missing something here? I've always considered "hoi polloi" as the unwashed masses. Webster's defines it as "masses."

  I cannot find "hoi polloi" in my 1933 WEBSTER'S INTERNATIONAL.
  AMERICAN HERITAGE has "Gk., the many, and defines it "The common people; masses.





sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:
  arnold writes:

>"hoi polloi" drifts even further from its roots...
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another interesting example, in my experience, is a student of Greek (text
only), for whom the romanized "hoi polloi" became somehow so detached from
the Greek roots & so imbedded in American speech as to have completely
reversed its meaning to be, instead: "elite class" or "high society."
AM

~@:> ~@:> ~@:> ~@:>

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