[Ads-l] majority; plurality

[Laurence Horn]

> On Apr 20, 2016, at 8:52 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> When there are only two candidates, or in this case two subgroups,
> "majority" and "plurality" are synonymous.

The difference would indeed be neutralized in such cases, but I thought we were discussing the meaning and use of "majority" and "plurality", not about how they apply to a particular case.  

LH
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 18, 2016 9:45 PM, "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> ...
>> Just checked to see if the 'super-majority' sense is in the OED--it's not
> (at least not without a clarifying adjective), although the loose use of
> "majority" to mean 'plurality' or 'significant proportion' is, (3a).  My
> favorite lemma is a use with which I was previously unfamiliar and which is
> evidently obsolete [apparently a calque of Lat. "ad plures"]:
>> 
>> 3c. "the majority": the dead. Chiefly in phrases "to join the majority"
> and "to go/pass over to the majority": to die. Obs.
> 
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