Hoi polloi
Encyclopedia
Hoi polloi an expression meaning "the many", or in the strictest sense, "the majority" in Greek
, is used in English
to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense
. Synonym
s for "hoi polloi" include "... commoner
s, great unwashed, minions, multitude
, plebeians
, rank and file
, riff-raff
, the common people, the herd, the many, the plebs
, the proles, the peon
s, the working class
".
The phrase became known to English scholars probably from Pericles' Funeral Oration
, as mentioned in Thucydides
' History of the Peloponnesian War
. Pericles
uses it in a positive way when praising the Athenian democracy
, contrasting it with hoi oligoi, "the few" (Greek
: , see also oligarchy
)
Its current English usage
originated in the early 19th century, a time when it was generally accepted that one must be familiar with Greek and Latin in order to be considered well-educated. The phrase was originally written in Greek letters
. Knowledge of these languages served to set apart the speaker from the hoi polloi who were not similarly educated.
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.
There have been numerous uses of the term in English literature
. James Fenimore Cooper
, author of The Last of the Mohicans
, is often credited with making the first recorded usage of the term in English. The first recorded use by Cooper occurs in his 1837 work Gleanings in Europe where he writes "After which the oi polloi are enrolled as they can find interest."
Lord Byron had, in fact, previously used the term in his letters and journal. In one journal entry, dated 24 November 1813, Byron writes "I have not answered W. Scott
's last letter,—but I will. I regret to hear from others, that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary involvements. He is undoubtedly the Monarch of Parnassus, and the most English of bards. I should place Rogers
next in the living list (I value him more as the last of the best school) —Moore
and Campbell both third—Southey
and Wordsworth
and Coleridge
—the rest, οι πολλοί [hoi polloi in Greek]—thus:— (see image reproduced on this page).
Byron also wrote an 1821 entry in his journal "... one or two others, with myself, put on masks, and went on the stage with the 'oi polloi."
W. S. Gilbert
used the term in 1882 when he wrote the libretto of the comic opera
Iolanthe
. In Act I, the following exchange occurs between a group of disgruntled fairies
who are arranging to elevate a lowly shepherd to the peerage
, and members of the House of Lords
who will not hear of such a thing.
Gilbert's parallel use of canaille, plebs (plebeians), and hoi polloi makes it clear that the term is derogatory of the lower classes
. In many versions of the vocal score, it is written as "οἱ πολλοί," likely confusing generations of amateur choristers who had not had the advantages of a British Public School
education.
John Dryden
used the phrase in his Essay of Dramatick Poesie
, published in 1668. Dryden spells the phrase with Greek letters, but the rest of the sentence is in English (and he does precede it with "the").
from the Three Stooges
was a 1935
film titled Hoi Polloi
. The film opens in an exclusive restaurant where two wealthy gentlemen are arguing whether heredity or environment is more important in shaping character. They make a bet and pick on nearby trashmen
(the Stooges) to prove their theory. At the conclusion of three months in training, the Stooges attend a dinner party, where they thoroughly embarrass the professors.
The University of Dayton
's Don Morlan says, "The theme in these shorts of the Stooges against the rich is bringing the rich down to their level and shaking their heads." A typical Stooges joke from the film is when someone addresses them as "gentlemen," and they look over their shoulders to see who was being addressed. The Three Stooges
turn the tables on their hosts by calling them "hoi polloi" at the end.
The term continues to be used in contemporary writing. In his 1983 introduction to Robert Anton Wilson
's Prometheus Rising
, Israel Regardie
writes, "Once I was even so presumptuous as to warn (Wilson) in a letter that his humor was much too good to waste on hoi polloi who generally speaking would not understand it and might even resent it."
The term "hoi polloi" was used in a dramatic scene in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society
. In this scene, Professor Keating speaks negatively about the use of the article "the" in front of the phrase:
Keating's tone makes clear that he considers this statement to be an insult. He used the phrase "the hoi polloi," to demonstrate the mistake he warned against.
The term also used in the 1980 comedy film Caddyshack
. In a rare moment of cleverness, Spaulding Smails greets Danny Noonan as he arrives for the christening of The Flying Wasp, the boat belonging to Judge Elihu Smails (Spaulding's grandfather), with "Ahoy, polloi! Where did you come from, a scotch ad?" This is particularly ironic, because Danny has just finished mowing the Judge's lawn, and arrives overdressed, wearing a sailboat captain's outfit (as the girl seated next to him points out, Danny "looks like Dick Cavett
").
Todd Rundgren
's band Utopia
recorded a song titled "Hoi Polloi" on their 1980 album Deface the Music
, in which all of the songs are written and performed in the style of The Beatles
.
The Lovin' Spoonful
's song Jug Band Music includes the line He tried to mooch a towel from the hoi polloi.
In the song Risingson on Massive Attack
's Mezzanine
album, the singer apparently appeals to his company to leave the club
they're in, deriding the common persons' infatuation with them, and implying that he's about to slide into antisocial behaviour
:
In an episode of This American Life
, radio host Ira Glass
uses the term hoi polloi while relaying a story about a woman who believes the letter 'q' should occur later in the alphabet. He goes on to say that "Q does not belong in the middle of the alphabet where it is, with the hoi polloi of the alphabet, with your 'm' 'n' and 'p'. Letters that will just join any word for the asking."
The term was used in a first-series episode (The New Vicar, aired 5 November 1990) of the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
. The main character, Hyacinth Bucket
, gets into a telephone argument with a bakery employee. When the employee abruptly hangs up in frustration, Hyacinth disparagingly refers to him as "hoi polloi." This is in keeping with her character; she looks down upon those she considers to be of lesser social standing, including working-class people.
Hoi Polloi was used in Larry Marder
's Tales of the Beanworld
to name the unusual group of creatures that lived beneath the Beanworld.
In the first scene of The Playstation ad, Double life
, a British man
says "In the day, I do my job, I ride the bus, Roll up my sleeves with the Hoi polloi".
's Larry King Live
program included a discussion about whether the sport of polo
was an appropriate part of the image of the British Royal Family
. Joining King on the program were "best-selling biographer and veteran royal watcher Robert Lacey
" and Kitty Kelley
, author of the book The Royals. Their discussions focused on Prince Charles and his son Prince William.
The term also appears in the 2003 Broadway
musical
Wicked
, where it is used by the characters Elphaba
and Glinda
to refer to the many inhabitants of the Emerald City
: "... I wanna be in this hoi polloi ..."
Jack Cafferty
, a CNN
anchorman, was caught misusing the term. On 9 December 2004 he retracted his statement, saying "And hoi-polloi refers to common people, not those rich morons that are evicting those two red-tail hawks (ph) from that fifth Avenue co-op
. I misused the word hoi-polloi. And for that I humbly apologize."
New media
and new inventions have also been described as being by or for the hoi polloi. Bob Garfield
, co-host of NPR
's On the Media
program, 8 November 2005, used the phrase in reference to changing practices in the media
, especially Wikipedia
, "The people in the encyclopedia business, I understand, tend to sniff at the wiki process
as being the product of the mere hoi polloi." The blog
Isengard.gov referred to the $100 PC project as being for kids and the hoi polloi. The post went on to refer to the correct usage of the phrase, "*Although we at Isengard.gov are using the Greek phrase hoi polloi in its correct meaning of "the common people," rather than the incorrect but more hoi-polloish meaning of "the hoity-toities," "the fancy-living types," the "ravenous blood-sucking
leeches fattening their stomachs on the backs of the masses," or "THE ARISTOCRATS
!," it does not, in and of itself, indicate that we are insufferable smarty-pants. That may be established by independent means."
Duran Duran
lead singer and lyricist Simon le Bon
has included the phrase in the band's song Skin Divers from their 2007 release Red Carpet Massacre
: Fighting on the shore, The hoi polloi want more, Howling bloody murder, but it's nothing just a murmur.
Gossip Girl (TV series)
character Chuck Bass
refers to fellow character Dan Humphrey
as hoi polloi in episode 14 of the second season, "In The Realm of the Basses" He says "that's the problem with an open invitation. No way to keep out the hoi polloi."
Dottore Massimo in The Thief Lord (film)
says to his son Scipio
"What have I told you about mixing with the hoi polloi?" He is referring to Scipio's friendship with Prosper
and Bo
, two brothers that are poor runaways.
Kay D. Smith and Marc Tall have produced a dance music collaboration titled Hoipolloi.
Sigur Rós
's singer Jónsi
uses the expression on his 2010 Go
's Boy Lilikoi song, on the line "You grind your claws, you howl, you growl unafraid of Hoi Polloi", repeated twice throughout the song.
The phrase has also been used in commercial works as the name a race of people.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, is used in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
. Synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
s for "hoi polloi" include "... commoner
Commoner
In British law, a commoner is someone who is neither the Sovereign nor a peer. Therefore, any member of the Royal Family who is not a peer, such as Prince Harry of Wales or Anne, Princess Royal, is a commoner, as is any member of a peer's family, including someone who holds only a courtesy title,...
s, great unwashed, minions, multitude
Multitude
Multitude is a political term first used by Machiavelli and reiterated by Spinoza. Recently the term has returned to prominence because of its conceptualization as a new model of resistance against the global capitalist system as described by political theorists Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in...
, plebeians
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
, rank and file
Rank and file
In politics and labor unions the rank and file are the individual members of an organization, exclusive of its leadership. The phrase originated in the military, denoting the horizontal "ranks" and vertical "files" of individual foot-soldiers, exclusive of the noncommissioned officers....
, riff-raff
Riff-Raff
Riff-Raff is a 1991 British film directed by Ken Loach, starring Robert Carlyle and Ricky Tomlinson . It won the 1991 European Film Award Best Picture award....
, the common people, the herd, the many, the plebs
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
, the proles, the peon
Peon
The words peon and peonage are derived from the Spanish peón . It has a range of meanings but its primary usage is to describe laborers with little control over their employment conditions.-English usage:...
s, the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
".
The phrase became known to English scholars probably from Pericles' Funeral Oration
Pericles' Funeral Oration
Pericles' Funeral Oration is a famous speech from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. The speech was delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead.-Background:It was an...
, as mentioned in Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
' History of the Peloponnesian War
History of the Peloponnesian War
The History of the Peloponnesian War is an account of the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece, fought between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League . It was written by Thucydides, an Athenian general who served in the war. It is widely considered a classic and regarded as one of the...
. Pericles
Pericles
Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars...
uses it in a positive way when praising the Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model,...
, contrasting it with hoi oligoi, "the few" (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: , see also oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
)
Its current English usage
Linguistic prescription
In linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
originated in the early 19th century, a time when it was generally accepted that one must be familiar with Greek and Latin in order to be considered well-educated. The phrase was originally written in Greek letters
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
. Knowledge of these languages served to set apart the speaker from the hoi polloi who were not similarly educated.
Pronunciation
The phrase has three different pronunciations:- EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
speakers pronounce it ˌhɔɪ pəˈlɔɪ pə-. - Ancient GreekAncient GreekAncient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
speakers pronounced it hoi polˈloi. Notice that double-λ is pronounced as such. - Modern GreekModern GreekModern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...
speakers pronounce it [i poˈli] ee po-LEE, since in Modern Greek there is no aspiration and οι is pronounced "ee" (all Ancient Greek diphthongs are now pronounced as monophthongs). Greek CypriotsGreek CypriotsGreek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community at 77% of the population. Greek Cypriots are mostly members of the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...
still pronounce the double-λ ([i polˈli]).
Usage
Some linguistic prescriptivistsLinguistic prescription
In linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
argue that, given that hoi is a definite article
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
, 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
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
al-kuhl, al being an article, yet "the alcohol" is universally accepted as good grammar.
Appearances in the nineteenth century
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
. James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
, author of The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known...
, is often credited with making the first recorded usage of the term in English. The first recorded use by Cooper occurs in his 1837 work Gleanings in Europe where he writes "After which the oi polloi are enrolled as they can find interest."
Lord Byron had, in fact, previously used the term in his letters and journal. In one journal entry, dated 24 November 1813, Byron writes "I have not answered W. Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's last letter,—but I will. I regret to hear from others, that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary involvements. He is undoubtedly the Monarch of Parnassus, and the most English of bards. I should place Rogers
Samuel Rogers
Samuel Rogers was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron...
next in the living list (I value him more as the last of the best school) —Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
and Campbell both third—Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
and Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
and Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
—the rest, οι πολλοί [hoi polloi in Greek]—thus:— (see image reproduced on this page).
Byron also wrote an 1821 entry in his journal "... one or two others, with myself, put on masks, and went on the stage with the 'oi polloi."
W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
used the term in 1882 when he wrote the libretto of the comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
. In Act I, the following exchange occurs between a group of disgruntled fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
who are arranging to elevate a lowly shepherd to the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
, and members of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
who will not hear of such a thing.
- PEERS: Our lordly style
- You shall not quench
- With base canaille!
- FAIRIES: (That word is French.)
- PEERS: Distinction ebbs
- Before a herd
- Of vulgar plebs!
- FAIRIES: (A Latin word.)
- PEERS: 'Twould fill with joy,
- And madness stark
- The hoi polloi!
- FAIRIES: (A Greek remark.)
Gilbert's parallel use of canaille, plebs (plebeians), and hoi polloi makes it clear that the term is derogatory of the lower classes
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
. In many versions of the vocal score, it is written as "οἱ πολλοί," likely confusing generations of amateur choristers who had not had the advantages of a British Public School
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
education.
John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
used the phrase in his Essay of Dramatick Poesie
Essay of Dramatick Poesie
Essay of Dramatic Poesy by John Dryden was published in 1668. It was probably written during the plague year of 1666. Dryden takes up the subject that Philip Sidney had set forth in his Defence of Poesie and attempts to justify drama as a legitimate form of "poetry" comparable to the epic, as...
, published in 1668. Dryden spells the phrase with Greek letters, but the rest of the sentence is in English (and he does precede it with "the").
Appearances in the twentieth century
The term has appeared in several films and radio programs. One of the earliest short filmsShort subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
from the Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
was a 1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
film titled Hoi Polloi
Hoi Polloi (1935 film)
Hoi Polloi is the tenth short film starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
. The film opens in an exclusive restaurant where two wealthy gentlemen are arguing whether heredity or environment is more important in shaping character. They make a bet and pick on nearby trashmen
Waste collector
A waste collector is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and remove refuse and recyclables from residential, commercial, industrial or other collection site for further processing and disposal...
(the Stooges) to prove their theory. At the conclusion of three months in training, the Stooges attend a dinner party, where they thoroughly embarrass the professors.
The University of Dayton
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio...
's Don Morlan says, "The theme in these shorts of the Stooges against the rich is bringing the rich down to their level and shaking their heads." A typical Stooges joke from the film is when someone addresses them as "gentlemen," and they look over their shoulders to see who was being addressed. The Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
turn the tables on their hosts by calling them "hoi polloi" at the end.
The term continues to be used in contemporary writing. In his 1983 introduction to Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
's Prometheus Rising
Prometheus Rising
Prometheus Rising is a book by Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1983. It is a guide book of "how to get from here to there", an amalgam of Timothy Leary's 8-circuit model of consciousness, Gurdjieff's self-observation exercises, Alfred Korzybski's general semantics, Aleister Crowley's magical...
, Israel Regardie
Israel Regardie
Israel Regardie, born Francis Israel Regudy was an occultist and writer, author of books on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.-Early life:...
writes, "Once I was even so presumptuous as to warn (Wilson) in a letter that his humor was much too good to waste on hoi polloi who generally speaking would not understand it and might even resent it."
The term "hoi polloi" was used in a dramatic scene in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.The script was written...
. In this scene, Professor Keating speaks negatively about the use of the article "the" in front of the phrase:
- Keating: This is battle, boys. War! Your souls are at a critical juncture. Either you will succumb to the hoi polloi and the fruit will die on the vine—or you will triumph as individuals. It may be a coincidence that part of my duties are to teach you about RomanticismRomanticismRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, but let me assure you that I take the task quite seriously. You will learn what this school wants you to learn in my class, but if I do my job properly, you will also learn a great deal more. You will learn to savor language and words because they are the stepping stones to everything you might endeavor to do in life and do well. A moment ago I used the term 'hoi polloi.' Who knows what it means? Come on, Overstreet, you twirp. (laughter) Anderson, are you a man or a boil?
- Anderson shakes his head "no", but Meeks raises his hands and speaks: "The hoi polloi. Doesn't it mean the herd?"
- Keating: Precisely, Meeks. Greek for the herd. However, be warned that, when you say "the hoi polloi" you are actually saying "the the herd." Indicating that you too are "hoi polloi".
Keating's tone makes clear that he considers this statement to be an insult. He used the phrase "the hoi polloi," to demonstrate the mistake he warned against.
The term also used in the 1980 comedy film Caddyshack
Caddyshack
Caddyshack is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis, and Douglas Kenney. It stars Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe, Cindy Morgan, and Bill Murray...
. In a rare moment of cleverness, Spaulding Smails greets Danny Noonan as he arrives for the christening of The Flying Wasp, the boat belonging to Judge Elihu Smails (Spaulding's grandfather), with "Ahoy, polloi! Where did you come from, a scotch ad?" This is particularly ironic, because Danny has just finished mowing the Judge's lawn, and arrives overdressed, wearing a sailboat captain's outfit (as the girl seated next to him points out, Danny "looks like Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
").
Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
's band Utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
recorded a song titled "Hoi Polloi" on their 1980 album Deface the Music
Deface the Music
Deface the Music is a 1980 album by the band Utopia featuring Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and Willie Wilcox. The concept of the album was to pay homage to The Beatles and create songs which sounded very similar to the Fab Four's tunes throughout the various stages of their career...
, in which all of the songs are written and performed in the style of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
.
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
's song Jug Band Music includes the line He tried to mooch a towel from the hoi polloi.
In the song Risingson on Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
's Mezzanine
Mezzanine (album)
Mezzanine is the third studio album by English trip hop group Massive Attack, released on 20 April 1998. It was produced by Neil Davidge along with the group. The album was released on Virgin Records....
album, the singer apparently appeals to his company to leave the club
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
they're in, deriding the common persons' infatuation with them, and implying that he's about to slide into antisocial behaviour
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
:
- Toy-like people make me boy-like (...)
And everything you got, hoi polloi like
Now you're lost and you're lethal
And now's about the time you gotta leave all
These good people...dream on.
In an episode of This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
, radio host Ira Glass
Ira Glass
Ira Glass is an American public radio personality, and host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life.- Early life :...
uses the term hoi polloi while relaying a story about a woman who believes the letter 'q' should occur later in the alphabet. He goes on to say that "Q does not belong in the middle of the alphabet where it is, with the hoi polloi of the alphabet, with your 'm' 'n' and 'p'. Letters that will just join any word for the asking."
The term was used in a first-series episode (The New Vicar, aired 5 November 1990) of the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...
. The main character, Hyacinth Bucket
Hyacinth Bucket
Hyacinth Bucket, who insists her last name is pronounced "Bouquet" , is the main character in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances , played by Patricia Routledge.-Personality:...
, gets into a telephone argument with a bakery employee. When the employee abruptly hangs up in frustration, Hyacinth disparagingly refers to him as "hoi polloi." This is in keeping with her character; she looks down upon those she considers to be of lesser social standing, including working-class people.
Hoi Polloi was used in Larry Marder
Larry Marder
Larry Marder is an American cartoonist and writer, best known as the creator of comic book Tales of the Beanworld, which began as an "essentially self-published title" in 1984.-Early life:...
's Tales of the Beanworld
Tales of the Beanworld
Tales of the Beanworld is an independently published comic book, created by Larry Marder. Beanworld features stories about the life and times of the Beans, minimalistic characters which Marder has been drawing since childhood...
to name the unusual group of creatures that lived beneath the Beanworld.
In the first scene of The Playstation ad, Double life
Double Life (Playstation ad)
Playstation Double life is a Television Advertisement released in 1999 by Sony Europe. The 60 second long ad shows 19 Playstation 1 gamers discussing their PS1 gaming experience. The ad has won a Clio award and also gone on to gain a cult status.- Content :...
, a British man
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
says "In the day, I do my job, I ride the bus, Roll up my sleeves with the Hoi polloi".
Appearances in the twenty-first century
The August 14, 2001 episode of CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
program included a discussion about whether the sport of polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
was an appropriate part of the image of the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
. Joining King on the program were "best-selling biographer and veteran royal watcher Robert Lacey
Robert Lacey
Robert Lacey is a British historian and biographer. He is the author of a number of bestselling biographies, including those of Henry Ford and Queen Elizabeth II, as well as works of popular history....
" and Kitty Kelley
Kitty Kelley
Kitty Kelley is an American journalist and author of several best-selling unauthorized biographies of celebrities and politicians. Her subjects have included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British Royal Family, the Bush family, and Oprah Winfrey...
, author of the book The Royals. Their discussions focused on Prince Charles and his son Prince William.
- Lacey said, "There is another risk that I see in polo. Polo is a very nouveau richeNouveau richeThe nouveau riche , or new money, comprise those who have acquired considerable wealth within their own generation...
, I think, rather vulgar game. I can say that having played it myself, and I don't think it does Prince Charles's image, or, I dare say, this is probably arrogant of me, his spirit any good. I don't think it is a good thing for him to be involved in. I also, I'm afraid, don't think [polo] is a good thing for [Charles] to be encouraging his sons to get involved in. It is a very "playboy" set. We saw Harry recently all night clubbing, and why not, some might say, playing polo down in the south of Spain. I think the whole polo syndrome is something that the royal familyThe Royal FamilyThe Royal Family is a play written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Its premiere on Broadway was at the Selwyn Theatre on 28 December 1927, where it ran for 345 performances to close in October 1928.-Plot summary:Characters...
would do very well to get uninvolved with as soon as possible.
- King turned the question to Kelley, saying, "Kitty, it is kind of hoi polloi, although it is an incredible sport in which, I have been told, that the horse is 80 percent of the game, the rider 20 percent. But it is a great sport to watch. But it is hoi polloi isn't it?"
- To which Kelley replied, "Yes, I do agree with Robert. The time is come and gone for the royals to be involved with polo. I mean it is – it just increases that dissipated aristo-image that they have, and it is too bad to encourage someone like Prince William to get involved."
The term also appears in the 2003 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
, where it is used by the characters Elphaba
Elphaba
Elphaba Thropp is a fictional character in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Broadway and West End adaptations, Wicked. In the original L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West is unnamed and little...
and Glinda
Glinda
Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.- Literature :Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
to refer to the many inhabitants of the Emerald City
Emerald City
The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
: "... I wanna be in this hoi polloi ..."
Jack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.-Career:...
, a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
anchorman, was caught misusing the term. On 9 December 2004 he retracted his statement, saying "And hoi-polloi refers to common people, not those rich morons that are evicting those two red-tail hawks (ph) from that fifth Avenue co-op
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
. I misused the word hoi-polloi. And for that I humbly apologize."
New media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
and new inventions have also been described as being by or for the hoi polloi. Bob Garfield
Bob Garfield
Bob Garfield writes the "Ad Review" TV-commercial criticism feature in Advertising Age. He is also the co-host of the On the Media show on National Public Radio. Before that, he was a frequent contributor to All Things Considered. He is the advertising analyst for ABC News...
, co-host of NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's On the Media
On the Media
On the Media is an hour-long weekly radio program, hosted by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, covering journalism, technology, and First Amendment issues. It is produced by WNYC in New York City...
program, 8 November 2005, used the phrase in reference to changing practices in the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, especially Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, "The people in the encyclopedia business, I understand, tend to sniff at the wiki process
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
as being the product of the mere hoi polloi." The blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
Isengard.gov referred to the $100 PC project as being for kids and the hoi polloi. The post went on to refer to the correct usage of the phrase, "*Although we at Isengard.gov are using the Greek phrase hoi polloi in its correct meaning of "the common people," rather than the incorrect but more hoi-polloish meaning of "the hoity-toities," "the fancy-living types," the "ravenous blood-sucking
Hematophagy
Hematophagy is the practice of certain animals of feeding on blood...
leeches fattening their stomachs on the backs of the masses," or "THE ARISTOCRATS
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
!," it does not, in and of itself, indicate that we are insufferable smarty-pants. That may be established by independent means."
Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
lead singer and lyricist Simon le Bon
Simon Le Bon
Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...
has included the phrase in the band's song Skin Divers from their 2007 release Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre is the 12th studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran. It was released on 19 November 2007 in Europe, and on the 13th in the United States....
: Fighting on the shore, The hoi polloi want more, Howling bloody murder, but it's nothing just a murmur.
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...
character Chuck Bass
Chuck Bass
Charles Bartholomew "Chuck" Bass is a fictional character in the Gossip Girl series of teen novels and the television series of the same name. He is portrayed by English actor Ed Westwick. Although he is a secondary, antagonistic character in the original book series, in the television series Chuck...
refers to fellow character Dan Humphrey
Dan Humphrey
Daniel Randolph "Dan" Humphrey is a fictional character in the best selling Gossip Girl book series. He is the main male character in the television series of the same name and is portrayed by Penn Badgley. Daniel Humphrey is the son of Rufus Humphrey and has a younger sister, Jenny Humphrey. His...
as hoi polloi in episode 14 of the second season, "In The Realm of the Basses" He says "that's the problem with an open invitation. No way to keep out the hoi polloi."
Dottore Massimo in The Thief Lord (film)
The Thief Lord (film)
The Thief Lord is a 2006 British-German family film directed by Richard Claus. It is a joint production of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., Future Films Limited, Comet Film, and Thema Production. The film is distributed by Warner Brothers...
says to his son Scipio
Scipio
-Classical:* Scipio, a representation of the Cornelii Scipiones, branch of the illustrious Cornelii family from Ancient Rome.* Scipio Africanus, Roman general who defeated Hannibal at Zama, the final battle of the Second Punic War....
"What have I told you about mixing with the hoi polloi?" He is referring to Scipio's friendship with Prosper
Prosper
Prosper may refer to:In people:* Prosper de Mestre Sydney businessman fom 1818 to 1844* Prosper of Aquitaine, also known as Prosper Tiro, Christian writer and disciple of St Augustine* Prosper of Catenanuova, martyr, patron saint of Catenanuova...
and Bo
Bo
-People:*Bo , name origin, plus people with the name*Bo , name origin, plus people with the surname**Bo , Chinese family names*Bo people , extinct minority population in Southern China famous for hanging coffins...
, two brothers that are poor runaways.
Kay D. Smith and Marc Tall have produced a dance music collaboration titled Hoipolloi.
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
's singer Jónsi
Jón Þór Birgisson
Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson is the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his falsetto voice. He is also blind in his right eye and is openly gay. His boyfriend Alex Somers has done much of the graphic design for...
uses the expression on his 2010 Go
Go (Jónsi album)
Go is the debut studio album by Icelandic musician Jónsi, frontman of the band Sigur Rós. The album was released on April 5, 2010, through XL Recordings, as reported by a downloadable track from the official site...
's Boy Lilikoi song, on the line "You grind your claws, you howl, you growl unafraid of Hoi Polloi", repeated twice throughout the song.
List of twenty-first century commercial uses
The phrase Hoi Polloi has been used to promote products and businesses. As described by the Pittsburgh Dish, the name "Hoi Polloi" may be chosen to indicate that the brand or service will appeal to the "common people".- Hoi Polloi is the name of many businesses, including HoipolloiHoipolloiHoipolloi are a British touring theatre company committed to creating new work for theatre that imaginatively engages their audience and makes them laugh...
a theatreTheatreTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
company based in CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, an up and coming theatre company in New York, a danceDanceDance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
group based in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, a woman's boutique in New OrleansNew Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, Louisiana, a Cafe-Bar in Agia Galini, GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, a film crewFilm crewTelevision crew positions are derived from those of film crew positions.A film crew is a group of people hired by a production company for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the Actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for...
in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and a global telecommunications company. - Oi PolloiOi PolloiOi Polloi are an anarcho-punk band from Scotland that formed around 1981. Starting as an Oi! band, they are generally associated more with the anarcho-punk genre. More recently the band have become notable for their contributions to the Scottish Gaelic punk subgenre...
is a ScottishScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
anarcho-punkAnarcho-punkAnarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
group, whose name is a pun on the term, and also Oi!Oi!Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
music. Hoi Polloi was an alternative gospel bandGospel musicGospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
from New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. - Hoi Polloi is a Marketing CommunicationsMarketing communicationsMarketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
blog by Angelo Fernando, a business writer covering technology, marketing, and interactive media. - Hoi Polloi is the title of a literary journal produced by Dog Days Press in Massachusetts.
- Ahoi Polloi is the name of a well-known German cartoon blog.
The phrase has also been used in commercial works as the name a race of people.
- hoi polli is used by the character Kindle in the video game Advance Wars: Dual StrikeAdvance Wars: Dual StrikeAdvance Wars: Dual Strike, known in Japan as , is a turn-based tactics video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console...
. - ScientologyScientologyScientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
founder L. Ron HubbardL. Ron HubbardLafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
claimed the existence of a race of extraterrestrialExtraterrestrial lifeExtraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
invaders known as the Hoipolloi.