How do you spell "hoydee toydee"?

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Title says it all.

[Zsofia]

Hoity toity.

[BarnOwl]

@Zsofia

Hoity toity.

Zright.

[kittenblue]

Hoity Toity

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Thanks!

The reason I ask is that I see “hoi polloi” and “hoity toity” used interchangeably.

One’s an adjective and the other is a noun, but that doesn’t stop some people…

[Zsofia]

Well, that and they have nothing to do with each other. Somebody who’s hoity toity is acting all snobbish and like they’re high class or somethin’. The hoi polloi are, you know, the madding crowd. Common people. In fact, they’re practically antonyms.

[gazpacho]

@Runs With Scissors

Thanks!

The reason I ask is that I see “hoi polloi” and “hoity toity” used interchangeably.

One’s an adjective and the other is a noun, but that doesn’t stop some people…

Aren’t those words basically opposites? hoi polloi is common and hoity toity is upper class?

[Ruby]

I’ve never seen “hoi polloi”. How do you pronounce it?

And to the OP, it’s hoity toity.

[pulykamell]

@Ruby

I’ve never seen “hoi polloi”. How do you pronounce it?

HOY puh-LOY.

And, yes, hoi polloi and hoity toity are certainly not interchangeable, even if they were the same part of speech. As mentioned, they are essentially opposites.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Ruby

I’ve never seen “hoi polloi”. How do you pronounce it?

Proles.

[KneadToKnow]

[grammar cop]
Note for people who want to claim the hoi polloi is redundant:

Hoi polloi

[/grammar cop]

[gazpacho]

Your link is interesting KnedToKnow. Not only for your point but it also addresses the interchangeability of hoi polloi and hoity toity.

Since the 1950s the phrase has been misused to refer to the upper class, which is the opposite of its actual meaning.[6][16] It has been speculated that this usage has arisen due to similarity between the phrase “hoi polloi” and “high” or “hoity toity.”[6][17][18][15]

[Colibri]

@Runs With Scissors

Thanks!

The reason I ask is that I see “hoi polloi” and “hoity toity” used interchangeably.

It’s very hoi polloi to say hoi polloi when you mean hoity toity.

[hawthorne]

@Colibri

It’s very hoi polloi to say hoi polloi when you mean hoity toity.

Could be countersignaling.

[Freddy_the_Pig]

Hoi polloi looks like it should be French, so I’ve always wanted to pronounce it “hwah po-yah”. That would be really hoity-toity. But I see that it’s actually Greek.

Only one question remains–does hoity-toity have a hyphen?

[muldoonthief]

@Colibri

It’s very hoi polloi to say hoi polloi when you mean hoity toity.

I really hate people who flaunt the rules of the language like that.

[Oy]

@muldoonthief

I really hate people who flaunt the rules of the language like that.

[Rhythmdvl]

I used to think hoi polloi had Hawaiian origins. Of course, being from the east coast, everything I know about Hawaii comes from … from … what, Gilligan’s Island? The theme to H.50? Don Ho?

Oh how awfully bourgeois of me!

[KneadToKnow]

Methinks you got poi confused in there somehow.

[AskNott]

Here’s one of the few things I remember from the PBS mini-series about the evolution of American English:

In the old days, just like today, only the rich could afford oceanfront property. So, if your house was close to high tide (in some accents, hoigh toide,) you were wealthy. We like to rhyme slang, so it became hoity toity.