To continue the linguistic discussion...
High Seas wrote:look up "absolute majority" (50% and higher) and "US usage" (US linguistic usage, i.e. what you would expect to find in a US-based website).
I realise that an "absolute majority" refers to over 50%, specifically - in any country. The point is rather that the term "majority" usually and primarily also refers to having over 50% (of seats, votes, etc) at hand - as opposed to "plurality", which designates a lead in votes or seats that doesn't reach 50%.
Now I realise that you're now arguing that this is not true in US usage - but the dictionary definition I quoted does not seem to back you up on this.
Of course, since you have a two-party system, the difference is hardly ever relevant in the US; whichever way the vote turns out (unless it's a tie, of course), either one or the other candidate will have a "majority", rather than a plurality, of seats in Congress or any other legislative body. So I can see how the word "plurality" is hardly ever used, and Americans would naturally just use the word they know and generally use, "majority", to describe any election victory.
That doesn't, however, make ït correct. That's why it might be useful to take to heart a reminder that the use of the term to describe an election victory is rarely ever correct in the context of multi-party systems like Switzerland's. Getting less than a third of the parliamentary seats does not make for a "majority", hence your typical newspaper report sentence that "the party won the elections, but does not have a majority.
Don't take my word for it, consider the use in these random newspaper articles - which include sources like BBC News and Fox News:
- "another poll by Allensbach Institute showed that Merkel 's bloc will win 49.5 percent, and still lacks a majority to win the elections"
- "The DPP is now the largest party, but lacks a majority"
- "These scenarios were in turn rejected by Civic Democratic Party leader Mirek Topolanek, whose party won the elections but lacks a majority"
- "The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to which the president, Chen Shui-bian, belongs is the largest party in the legislature, but it lacks a majority"
- "Oscar Berger earns 54 percent of the vote in the runoff for president. However, Berger lacks a majority in Congress and may be forced to rely on [..] Portillo, leader of the second-largest party"
- "If the winning candidate lacks a majority of votes, he and the second-place finisher would go against each other in a March runoff."
Well, etc.
High Seas wrote:Not to imply anybody here is Kant, but - aergerlich? Why not ask, if you don't understand?
Right back atcha.
