Building a Better Vocabulary

Lecture 10: Words for the Everyday and the Elite

z Polloi, meaning “many,” is related to the Greek root poly, which

also means “many or much” and appears in such words as polygon

and polygamist. In your vocabulary notebook, highlight the pol

in polloiDQGUHODWHLWWRDSRO\JRQD¿JXUHZLWKPDQ\VLGHVWKLV

will help you remember that hoi polloi refers to the many—the

common people.

z Some linguistic purists object to the phrase the hoi polloi because

hoi means “the” in Greek. According to this reasoning, when we

say, “the hoi polloi,” we’re being redundant, literally saying, “the

the many.” However, the hoi polloi has become an acceptable

phrase in English.

Banal (adjective)

Lacking freshness and originality; trite; commonplace; so ordinary as to

have become tedious.

z Banal is a great word to describe the clichés you might read in a

trashy western novel: a cowboy who is “rough around the edges”

but has a “heart of gold” and “nerves of steel.” Banal is often used

alongside such collocates as comments, observations, and UHPDUNV.

z Synonyms for banal include trite, stale, threadbare, and KDFNQH\HG.

This last word is derived from KDFN, someone who writes anything

for hire. You can imagine a hack, writing on a deadline and using

tired, worn-out phrases and clichés because he or she doesn’t have

the time to come up with anything original or fresh.

Bromide (noun)

A platitude or trite saying.

z Bromides are similar to clichés and seem to appear frequently in

sports contexts, as in: “That player gives 110 percent”; “We kept

our eye on the ball”; and “There is no i in team.”