Vocabulary: word games: majority and minority

Self-tutoring about words and their actual meanings: the tutor reflects about majority and minority.

Perhaps one can say “the majority” in a more confident way than “the minority,” since there can be only one majority group (for a given opinion, for instance), but numerous ones that are not.

As an example, imagine normal travel is permitted and you ask people where they are going for the holidays. Let’s further imagine that 55% plan to stay home, 25% plan to go to Mexico, and 20% to the Caribbean. Then, you can say that the majority plans to stay home, while a minority plans to go to Mexico, and yet another minority plans to visit the Caribbean.

So, while “the majority” seems completely coherent, the remaining population might be fractured into smaller, mutually exclusive groups, and therefore harder to refer to as “the minority.”

Source:

web.uvic.ca

millersville.edu