hoi polloi (hoi puh-LOI) noun
The common people, the masses.
During my inaugural meeting with the Illinois Tenants Union, the Associate Director and I briefly discussed the medieval roots of "landlord" and "tenant". More than anything, I think our conversation served to break the tension--it was my first serious interaction with a lawyer, after all--and direct me toward the silly imagery of jewelry-laden landlords gallivanting through the streets during the day, skipping care-free from house to house collecting handfuls of hard-earned money, and eventually laying down to rest at the top of their sound-proof, sun roofed Castle of the Privileged, with all windows facing away from the dirty city lights.
"Well, they're lords of the land."
"Exactly. And some take that title a little too literally."
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