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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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{i wasn't too lazy to search for the old one; it just was a bit lengthy and i thought folks might appreciate a fresh thread. oh, and this is an intentional crossover yart, as well....)this just in from MSNBC, concerning the hostage crises in manila: "Arroyo issued her latest warning to the rebels on national television, saying, “The reported murder of Mr. Sobero strengthens our resolve to decimate once and for all this cold-blooded bandit group.” [E.A.]" yeah, well, a fat lot of good that'd do.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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To kill one in ten and disperse the remaining nine to other groups; often used as punishment for mutiny in Roman legions.
In this case they will simply round up the cold-blooded bandit group in question, line them up, have them count off by tens pick a number at random and kill every one with that number and disperse the remainder to other cold-blooded bandit groups.
I just don't see your problem here.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
To kill one in ten and disperse the remaining nine to other groups; often used as punishment for mutiny in Roman legions.
I know that is technically the meaning, but dictionaries now seem to list the commonly (ab)used meaning "severely reduce in numbers" as well. I was just commenting on this last night while someone said it on the news.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the commonly (ab)used meaning
I suppose one could complain that it was being mis(ab)used merely by being applied to something other than a Roman legion.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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They could be a bit more humane if they'd instead millimate, or kilomate (but not in Australia).
Brandon
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Regrettably, "decimate" now seems to mean leaving only one out of ten alive. And it is often applied to inanimate objects. I saw a news item about a volcanic eruption decimating a city.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Kill every one and 999 more for each one in the cold-blooded bandit group for good measure? Ninety-nine times out of ten, that strategy will backfire on you.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
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Regrettably, "decimate" now seems to mean leaving only one out of ten alive. And it is often applied to inanimate objects. I saw a news item about a volcanic eruption decimating a city.I think it's gotten way more general than that. It is used all the time in the news (as I mentioned above) to mean something like "destroy a substantial part of". (Not that the news should necessarily be a prime source of wordly advice!)
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Well really, folks! You 'spect people who don't know no Latin to know how to verbiate with a Latin-root word?
tsk tsk. Latin's much to hard to learn. Requires memorization. Worse, using words correctly requires use of a (gasp) dictionary.
[grumpy emoticon emoting all over the place, with ironic smile]
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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<<Regrettably, "decimate" now seems to mean leaving only one out of ten *alive*. And it is often applied to *inanimate* objects.>>
Dear wwh,
From your hand, all things wondrous! :)
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