the.com/elite
The top sliver that insists it earned the view from up there.
means The select group considered the best, most powerful, or most privileged within a larger population.
from Traces back to Latin 'eligere' meaning 'to choose' or 'to pick out' — the same root that gives us 'elect' and 'election.' It passed through Old French 'eslit' (chosen) before arriving in English around the 1800s, originally used for the choicest specimens of livestock or goods before it settled on people who, naturally, considered themselves the choicest specimens of all.
- origin
- from latin eligere, to choose or elect
- paradox
- everyone claims it, no one admits membership
- economics term
- top 1 percent controls outsized share of resources
- usage shift
- now often an insult, not a compliment