[EM] Defining Majority [was: Blake's margins arguments]

[Bart Ingles]

 From Merriam Webster's Collegiate (via Jeeves):

Main Entry: ma·jor·i·ty
Date: 1552
1 obsolete : the quality or state of being greater
2 a : the age at which full civil rights are accorded
  b : the status of one who has attained this age
3 a : a number greater than half of a total
  b : the excess of a majority over the remainder of the total : MARGIN
  c : the preponderant quantity or share
4   : the group or political party whose votes preponderate
5   : the military office, rank, or commission of a major
                         - majority adjective 

Also from Merriam Webster:
Main Entry: majority rule
Date: 1893
    : a political principle providing that a majority usually
constituted by fifty
      percent plus one of an organized group will have the power to make
      decisions binding upon the whole 


Definitions 3c and 4 seem to mean any quantity required to win an
election.  Also note the relatively recent origin of the phrase
"majority rule".

Bart


Olli Salmi wrote:
> 
> At 22:10 -0800 24.2.2003, Bart Ingles wrote:
> >Just to further muddy the waters on the definition of "majority", note
> >Duverger's use of the term as apparently synonymous with "plurality":
> 
> Outside the US (or North America) it's normal to use "majority" or
> "simple majority" for what Americans call "plurality", and "absolute
> majority" for "majority".
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/voting_system/newsid_1173000/1173697.stm
> 
> I made a short search and it seems that "simple majority" in the US
> means "more than 50%, as opposed to a 2/3rds majority or some other
> special majority". In the UK it seems to emphasize "majority of those
> present and voting, as apposed to a special majority or a majority of
> all members".
> 
> "SImple majority" clearly means "absolute majority" in this link from Scotland:
> http://www.sec.ed.ac.uk/Committees/AcYear/consult/VotingPaper.htm