Dear Geist,

Why did my comp lit prof take off one mark on my essay and circle “the hoi polloi”? I checked it in two dictionaries and it was fine. I asked the prof and the answer was: Figure it out. Any idea?

—Dinged, Fredericton NB

Dear Dinged,

“Hoi polloi” (Greek) means “the many,” so technically “the hoi polloi” means “the the polloi”: the is redundant. If this is a scholarly paper, you'd better go without the the. But if it's for a general audience, you're more likely to confuse people, so just leave it in.

However, we'll also point out that hoi polloi is a pejorative, referring to people who are somehow inferior to the speaker or writer. Depending on the context, you may want to consider sidestepping both questions by choosing a less loaded word.

—The Editors