I guarantee that if we use the phrase ‘the hoi polloi’ in the paper, someone will write in to say that the definite article is wrong, because the ancient Greek for ‘the common people’ was just hoi polloi. But we are not writing in ancient Greek, and the phrase just sounds silly without the ‘the’ in an English sentence...

David March

Learning a language is a mystical vocation.

=^_^=

Belladona, n: In Italian a beautiful lady; 

in English a deadly poison.

A striking example of the essential identity

of the two tongues.

Ambrose Bierce