"Clotpoll is a venerable word for a blockhead or dolt. Clot is allied etymologically to clod, and poll, of course, means the head. That’s why we have political polls, which count heads. And clotpolls trust them." – John McIntyre, Baltimore Sun copy-editor extraordinaire, on his blog: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/
This is Samuel Johnson's spelling, but the word also appears as clodpoll and clodpole.
"Clotpoll is a venerable word for a blockhead or dolt. Clot is allied etymologically to clod, and poll, of course, means the head. That’s why we have political polls, which count heads. And clotpolls trust them."
– John McIntyre, Baltimore Sun copy-editor extraordinaire, on his blog: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/
This is Samuel Johnson's spelling, but the word also appears as clodpoll and clodpole.