Minority (continued)

[Peter A. McGraw]

In all three of Fred's examples it still seems to me to me that
"minorities" could be interpreted as = "minority groups" and not
necessarily as "members of a minority group."  This is still the "old
meaning" for me.  I.e., one might speak grammatically of the "need to hire
more women and minorities" without being able to say, grammatically, *"He's
a minority."  This latter is the "new meaning" that I recall hearing only
in the last few years.

Peter Mc.

--On Wednesday, May 30, 2001 3:48 PM -0400 Fred Shapiro
<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:

> On Wed, 30 May 2001, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>
>> If you're interested in a slightly different challenge, we are looking
>> for a pre-1976 example of 'a member of a minority group'. This is
>> usually used in the plural (in such constructions as "need to hire more
>> women and minorities").
>
> And still earlier:
>
> 1951 _Journal of Negro Education_ XX. 330  There are also other factors
> operating against discrimination:...direct campaigns of some local civic
> groups to encourage the hiring of minorities especially in white-collar
> jobs.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
> Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
>   and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
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****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu