By Betty Kirkpatrick
A poll can refer to a public survey, such as an opinion poll, by which what is considered to be a representative sample of the populace is asked to give their views on something. Such a poll is conducted by pollsters.
In election terms, a poll can mean the whole process of voting, while the term the polls is used to refer to the place where you go to vote in an election. Poll can also be used to refer to the number of votes recorded in an election.
As a verb, poll means to ask a sample of people to give their views on something. When an election is in progress, to poll means to receive a particular number of votes.
To many people, the word poll is still inextricably attached to the word tax and inextricably associated with Margaret Thatcher. This hugely unpopular tax had little to do with actual voting. Instead, the meaning of poll in poll tax points clearly to the original meaning of the word poll.
The original meaning of poll, which may have its origins in Dutch, from which all these modern uses have been derived, is head. As I am sure many people will remember, the poll tax was a flat-rate tax levied on all adult members of the population. It was therefore a per capita tax or a head tax.
Poll in the sense of voting, which came into being in the 17th century, was literally a counting of heads. The original verb to poll had nothing to do with voting. It originally meant to cut the hair of a person or animal.
In Scots, from the early 15th century, the l of some words or syllables became vocalised and was replaced with u or w. Thus, ball became baw, full became fou, roll became row. Poll became pow.
Betty Kirkpatrick is the former editor of several classic reference books, including Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary and Roget’s Thesaurus. She is also the author of several smaller language reference books, including The Usual Suspects and Other Clichés published by Bloomsbury, and a series of Scots titles, including Scottish Words and Phrases, Scottish Quotations, and Great Scots, published by Crombie Jardine.
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