[Ads-l] most/majority
Laurence Horn
laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Tue Oct 22 19:04:32 UTC 2019
> On Oct 22, 2019, at 2:59 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Now I am confused. The Liberals did win a plurality, but not a majority.
> Why would the newsreader have intended to say "not a plurality”?
What I meant to say (elliptically as it was) was not
With the Liberals winning most of the seats but not a plurality…
which would be doubly wrong, but
With the Liberals winning a plurality of the seats but not a majority…
Sorry for the unnecessary unclarity.
LH
>
> On Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 1:15 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
>>> On Oct 22, 2019, at 12:58 PM, Dan Goncharoff <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>
>> 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".
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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