[Ads-l] majority; plurality (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

I haven't looked into it, but I take "super majority" to mean a veto-proof majority, or a majority so large it can't be overcome.

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> 
> Do you have examples?  I've only seen "majority" to mean "more than half of the votes cast," "plurality" to mean "more votes than received
> by any other candidate or proposition," and "absolute majority" to mean "more than half of all voters, including voters who did not vote."
> (Apparently "absolute majority" is sometimes used to mean just "majority," but Black's Law Dictionary gives it only the meaning I cite.)  It's
> true that people sometimes say things like "two-thirds majority" when they mean "two-thirds supermajority," but that's pretty transparent.
> But perhaps I spend too much time hanging around lawyers, who tend to be precise on issues like this.
> 
> 
> John Baker
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 8:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: majority; plurality
> 
> It seems to me that I'm hearing "majority" more and more to mean "a supermajority (of a vote)" and "plurality" to mean "more than half of
> it"
> i.e., a majority).  Sometimes "absolute majority" is used to mean "supermajority" while "plurality" retains its older meaning.
> 
> 
> JL
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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