# How do you spell "hoydee toydee"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551 "2008-08-11T01:36:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/1 "2008-08-11T01:36:23Z")
Title says it all. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/2 "2008-08-11T01:40:32Z")
Hoity toity. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/3 "2008-08-11T01:59:38Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Hoity toity. [/QUOTE] Zright. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/4 "2008-08-11T02:03:18Z")
Hoity Toity ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/5 "2008-08-11T02:27:22Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/6 "2008-08-11T02:31:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/7 "2008-08-11T02:55:17Z")
[QUOTE=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… [/QUOTE] Aren’t those words basically opposites? hoi polloi is common and hoity toity is upper class? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/8 "2008-08-11T03:21:40Z")
I’ve never seen “hoi polloi”. How do you pronounce it? And to the OP, it’s hoity toity. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/9 "2008-08-11T03:23:48Z")
[QUOTE=Ruby] I’ve never seen “hoi polloi”. How do you pronounce it? [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/10 "2008-08-11T03:25:23Z")
[QUOTE=Ruby] I’ve never seen “hoi polloi”. How do you pronounce it? [/QUOTE] Proles. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/11 "2008-08-11T03:27:42Z")
[grammar cop] Note for people who want to claim _the hoi polloi_ is redundant: > **[Hoi polloi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoi_polloi#Questions_on_usage)** > > Hoi polloi (/ˌhɔɪ pəˈlɔɪ/; from Ancient Greek οἱ πολλοί (hoi polloí) 'the many') is an expression from Greek that means "the many" or, in the strictest sense, "the people". In English, it has been given a negative connotation to signify the masses. Synonyms for hoi polloi include "the plebs" (plebeians), "the rabble", "the masses", "the great unwashed", "riffraff", and "the proles" (proletarians). > The phrase probably became known to English scholars through Pericles' Funeral Oration, as mention... [/grammar cop] ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/12 "2008-08-11T03:35:24Z")
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] ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/13 "2008-08-11T04:23:22Z")
[QUOTE=Runs With Scissors] Thanks! The reason I ask is that I see “hoi polloi” and “hoity toity” used interchangeably. [/QUOTE] It’s very hoi polloi to say hoi polloi when you mean hoity toity. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/14 "2008-08-11T13:03:34Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] It’s very hoi polloi to say hoi polloi when you mean hoity toity. [/QUOTE] Could be countersignaling. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/15 "2008-08-11T13:55:15Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/16 "2008-08-11T14:02:28Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] It’s very hoi polloi to say hoi polloi when you mean hoity toity. [/QUOTE] I really hate people who flaunt the rules of the language like that. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/17 "2008-08-11T14:04:30Z")
[QUOTE=muldoonthief] I really hate people who flaunt the rules of the language like that. [/QUOTE] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/18 "2008-08-11T15:25:03Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/19 "2008-08-11T16:05:58Z")
Methinks you got _poi_ confused in there somehow. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551/20 "2008-08-12T20:58:38Z")
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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spell-hoydee-toydee/459551.md?page=2)