HOI-POLLOI
Be prepared, as a plebe, for this blow:
Hoi polloi (Greek) meant every John Doe,
Riff-raff, masses (unwashed);
But that use has been quashed,
It means upper crust now, you should know.
Authors' Note: The (re)duplication hoi polloi derives from the ancient Greek term for 'the many'. This expression, tinged with disparagement, like its close cousin riff-raff (also a reduplication), has been used in English for severlal centuries. In a recent inexplicable twist, as described by speedysnail, hoi polloi has come to be used, in some circumstances, to mean the exact opposite.
Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole HERE can easily get to our other nine short verses dealing with specific reduplications, as well as three fairly lengthy patter-songs about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon.
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