A Dictionary of Cont..

Hobson’s 222
of Christmas shoppers. A horde of ragged,
little boys).
Hobson’s choice, a humorous phrase for no choice
at all, is now a cliche in England but not used
enough in the United States to be regarded
as one here. The phrase derives from Thomas
Hobson (about 1544 to 163 1) , a carrier at
Cambridge who rented horses and compelled
his customers to take the horse he assigned to
them or none at all. It is one of the vagaries of
fame that this obscure man should have lent his
name to a proverb and been the subject of two
poems by John Milton.
hodgepodge; hotchpotch; hotchpot. The original
form horchpot is a legal term designating the
bringing together of shares or properties in
order to divide them equally, especially when
they are to be divided among the children of a
parent dying without a will (With regard to
lands descending in co-parcenary, that it hath
always been, and still is, the common law of
England, under the name of hotchpoti
Blackstone). Hotchpotch. a British variant of
this form, is a general term to describe a heterogeneous
mixture, an agglomeration, a jumble,
farrago, medley, or gallimaufrey (That ethnological
botch-patch called the Latin race).
Hodgepodge is a variant of hotchpotch. Of the
two forms it is now the preferred one in
America. In its use there is often a suggestion
that the jumbling has been clumsy and inept
(The art collection was a hodgepodge of paintings
from many periods and in several styles).
hog. As a standard noun hog means a pig, sow,
or boar, a domestic swine. In England it has
been replaced (except in figurative uses, such
as road hog) by pig. Thus American hogpen is
English pigsty. In colloquial use the word
describes a person having the hoggish attributes
of selfishness, gluttony, and, less commonly,
filthiness (He was a hog at the table. He was
a hog and would always shove out in front and
grub what he impudently called “his share”).
In slang usage as a verb, to hog is to take something
selfishly or to take more than one’s share
(So, says I, s’pose somebody has hogged that
bag on the sly?. At the movies he was &ways
the one to hog the popcorn). See also pig.
hoi polloi. These Greek words (hoi, the; polloi,
many) signify the masses, the ordinary people,
The phrase is often used by those who strain to
be erudite to signify the rabble, the lowest class
of people. It is condescending, with a touch of
the labored jocular. It carries the definite suggestion
of “I, who am so steeped in a classical
education that I speak Greek as naturally as I
do English, etc., etc.” Unfortunately, however,
many who use the term seem to know no Greek
at all, not so much as the definite article, and
in their ignorance prefix a superfluous the (I
read the News to see what the hoi polloi are
doing). It is a good phrase not to use.
hold. The uast tense is held. The narticiule is also
held. When hold is used in the sense of believe,
it may be followed by an infinitive, as in we hold
these truths to be self-evident, or by a clause, as
in we hold that they are self-evident.
When hold is used in the sense of remain, it
may be followed by an adjective describing the
subject of the verb, as in the argument holds
good. But when it is used in the sense of keep or
grasp, it is qualified by an adverb, as in the glue
holds well.
holding one’s own. As a term for maintaining
one’s position or condition, holding one’s own
is overworked.
hold-up (rob). See steal.
holloa; hollow; holler. See hello.
holocaust; disaster. A holocaust is a Greek word
meaning something which is burnt whole. It was
used for a burnt offering and has come to mean,
especially in journalistic writing, a great or
wholesale destruction of life, especially by burning
(Incendiary bombs led to a holocaust in the
slum quarter). Holocaust is often used as a
synonym for disaster, but there is a difference:
a holocaust may be a disaster, but there are
many kinds of disasters which are not holocausts.
Disaster (which means, literally, a bad
configuration of the stars, i.e., just bad luck)
designates any unfortunate event, especially a
sudden and great misfortune. A holocaust may
be accidental, but it may also be the result of
human intention. A flood, a railway wreck, or
the collapse of a building may be a disaster, but
none of these things is a holocaust.
home. Americans frequently use the noun home
as an adverb showing “place at which,” as in
I will stay home Wednesday. This is standard
English in the United States. It is not standard
in Great Britain and is condemned by many
grammarians who claim that a prepositional
phrase with at is required, as in Z will stay at
home Wednesday.
The most rigid grammarians allow home
without a preposition after verbs of motion, as
in I went home (where it shows “place to which”
rather than “place at which”); and after forms
of the verb to be when motion is implied, as in
I will be home at five or he must be home by
now. The famous lines, home is the sailor, home
from the sea, and the hunter home from the
hill, are considered formally correct because it
is possible to read motion into is home in this
case, even though it is an epitaph. But the best
will in the world can’t read motion into stay or
remain. With these verbs, therefore, some grammarians
require an at. See also house.
homely. The English have retained the word
homely only in its kinder connotations of domestic,
familiar, kindly, plain, unsophisticated
(. . . those plain homely terms that are most
obvious and natural. Yet portion of that unknown
plain/ Will Hodge forever be:/ His
homely Northern breast and brain/ Grow to
some Southern free). These meanings would be
understood in America, but the word is restricted
here, especially in its application to
people, to the meaning of unattractive. It is
usually a euphemism for ugly (She was the
homeliest woman I have ever seen). The English
are often disturbed by this American use.
They feel the word has been corrupted. But
Shakespeare so used it (Hofh homelie age th’