[Ads-l] most/majority

[Dave Wilton]

I think they meant that he won "the most seats but not a majority [of the
popular vote.]" That's how most news outlets I've seen have presented the
results. Trudeau's Liberal party garnered fewer votes overall than the
Tories. The Tory vote was heavily concentrated in Alberta and Saskatchewan;
they swept all the ridings but one in those provinces. 

It's still sloppy though. The Conservatives won a plurality of the popular
vote (34%), not a majority. The Liberals won 33% of the popular vote
overall, but 46% of the seats.

Maybe the editors think people won't know what a "plurality" is.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Bill
Mullins
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2019 1:42 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] most/majority

But saying "with Trudeau winning the most seats but not a majority..." has
problems as well -- he didn't win the most seats, his party just won more
than any other party did.


I suppose it would be correct to say "with Trudeau winning the most seats of
all the candidates but not a majority . . . " is grammatically correct, but
at some point it is easier to believe the speaker just screwed up.


(a thought I often have when strange or novel uses of words and phrases are
reported here -- "No, that's not the harbinger of a new sense of XXX, the
writer is simply a moron and doesn't know how to use English correctly.")

>

> > On Oct 22, 2019, at 12:58 PM, Dan Goncharoff
<thegonch at GMAIL.COM<mailto:thegonch at GMAIL.COM>>

> wrote:

> >

> > Or "the most" instead of "most".

>

> Probably so, but although, as Bill says, the news reader (or writer) must
have

> intended "plurality", "majority" is also often (mis)used in the same way.

> Proportions is tricky.

>

>

> >

> > On Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 12:40 PM Bill Mullins
<amcombill at hotmail.com<mailto:amcombill at hotmail.com>>

> wrote:

> >

> >> From NPR's hourly news this morning (the 10/22/2019 8AM ET set here

> >> https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500005/npr-news-now )

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >> "With Trudeau winning most of the seats but not a majority. . . ".

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >> I suppose he meant "plurality" instead of "most".



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