Usage
Some linguistic prescriptivists and students of ancient Greek argue that, given that hoi is a definite article, the phrase "the hoi polloi" is redundant, akin to saying "the the masses". Others argue that this is inconsistent with other English loanwords. The word "alcohol", for instance, derives from the Arabic al-kuhl, al being an article, yet "the alcohol" is universally accepted as good grammar; relevant differences, however, are that a) hoi polloi is transliterated but otherwise unmodified, whereas alcohol is altered in both pronunciation and associated spelling to form an independent word, and b) hoi polloi is left standing as a multiple-word phrase, with one word devoted exclusively to the function of the definite article, whereas in alcohol the grammatical particle serving as an article is assimilated into the (heavily modified) word.
Read more about this topic: Hoi Polloi
Famous quotes containing the word usage:
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—A.J. (Alfred Jules)
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—Kenneth G. Wilson (b. 1923)