[Scoutmaster]

@Author Craig Shirley

Getting a little pedantic here, but given that 'hoi' means 'the' in Greek, it's just 'hoi polloi,' not 'the hoi polloi.'

'The hol polloi' means 'the the many.'

One of those things that irks me. Like when people say 'hoist on his own petard' instead of 'hoist by his own petard.' A petard is a small bomb. Ask Shakespeare.

Miss Bessie Smith, God rest her soul, would pause during the middle of Advanced Grammar, and wax eloquently on these pressing topics. And I paid attention.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

A petard is a small bomb. Ask Shakespeare.

"But I will delve one yard below their mines, and blow them at the moon" --- Hamlet

[Ron C.]

Interesting that ‘lifted by’ was more like ‘blown up’ by, and then became ‘hoisted by’ - but more interesting, the root word was to break wind, in other words, a fart.