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OP Good evening everyone,
Is it just me or do I detect that if an authority/public figure incorrectly uses a word then the vast majority of others (including their peers) jump on the bandwagon and this misuse snowballs?
There is one word in particular which is misused quite occasionally on television and in newsprint. That word is 'decimate'.
Its literal meaning, and excuse me as I do not have the benefit of a dictionary to hand to give the precise definition, is 'to reduce by one tenth'. It was first used to describe the Roman practice of killing one tenth of their or their opponents' troops and comes from the Latin 'deci' menaing ten.
It is confused with, I suppose, 'devastated'. Most examples I can give relate to reports from war areas (so there are plenty as I write) and come in the form of 'The enemy positions were completely decimated'. Ten times over, I can only presume.
Has anyone else noticed this malapropism in reporting or elsewhere?
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Decimate Rubrick 05/20/00 09:56 PM Re: Decimate lusy 05/20/00 10:54 PM Re: Decimate tsuwm 05/21/00 01:59 AM Re: Decimate juanmaria 05/21/00 07:14 AM Re: Decimate tsuwm 05/21/00 01:59 PM Re: Decimate juanmaria 05/21/00 06:43 PM Re: Decimate Rubrick 05/22/00 12:42 PM Re: shifting meanings tsuwm 05/22/00 01:13 PM Re: shifting meanings Rubrick 05/22/00 01:20 PM Re: shifting meanings juanmaria 05/23/00 07:22 PM Chauvinist Rubrick 05/25/00 07:51 AM Re: Chauvinist jmh 05/25/00 10:43 AM Re: Chauvinist tsuwm 05/25/00 10:29 PM Re: Chauvinist Rubrick 05/26/00 01:48 PM Re: Chauvinist tsuwm 05/26/00 02:02 PM Re: Chauvinist Rubrick 05/26/00 02:14 PM Re: Chauvinist tsuwm 05/26/00 02:25 PM Re: Chauvinist Rubrick 05/26/00 02:35 PM Re: Chauvinist tsuwm 05/26/00 02:40 PM Re: Chauvinist Rubrick 05/26/00 02:45 PM Re: Chauvinist tsuwm 05/26/00 09:37 PM Re: Chauvinist jmh 05/27/00 04:54 PM Re: Chauvinist Rubrick 05/28/00 04:11 PM Re: Chauvinist tsuwm 05/28/00 07:11 PM Re: some other examples David108 05/28/00 07:24 PM re: millennium tsuwm 05/30/00 02:54 PM Re: re: millennium Jackie 05/30/00 11:46 PM Re: Chauvinist Jackie 05/26/00 07:13 PM Re: usage panels tsuwm 05/22/00 03:52 PM Re: usage panels Rubrick 05/22/00 10:40 PM Re: usage panels tsuwm 05/23/00 08:13 PM Re: usage panels jmh 05/23/00 08:23 PM Re: usage panels jmh 05/24/00 07:30 AM Re: usage panels Rubrick 05/24/00 01:00 PM Re: Decimate juanmaria 05/23/00 07:21 PM Re: Decimate Rubrick 05/24/00 09:47 AM Re: Decimate juanmaria 05/24/00 10:47 AM Globalisation jmh 05/24/00 12:44 PM Re: Globalisation AnnaStrophic 05/24/00 02:16 PM Re: Decimate Rubrick 05/24/00 12:51 PM Re: Decimate juanmaria 05/24/00 01:58 PM Re: Latin jmh 05/25/00 10:35 AM Re: Latin wsieber 05/26/00 11:55 AM Re: Latin Jackie 05/26/00 07:08 PM Re: Latin juanmaria 05/27/00 07:11 PM Re: Latin Jackie 05/27/00 07:21 PM Re: Latin juanmaria 05/27/00 08:02 PM Re: absence makes it hard to find 'er tsuwm 05/27/00 09:24 PM Re: Ladies AnnaStrophic 05/28/00 12:50 AM Re: absence makes it hard to find 'er juanmaria 05/28/00 10:20 AM Hmmmmm jmh 05/28/00 02:51 PM Re: Hmmmmm tsuwm 05/28/00 07:05 PM Re: Hmmmmm jmh 05/28/00 07:43 PM Re: Hmmmmm tsuwm 05/29/00 07:21 PM Re: Latin Jackie 05/28/00 01:42 AM Re: Latin jmh 05/28/00 03:09 PM Re: Latin Rubrick 05/28/00 04:34 PM The spoken word jmh 05/28/00 07:56 PM Re: Latin juanmaria 06/01/00 03:44 PM Re: Other Planets jmh 06/02/00 06:19 AM Re: Latin Rubrick 05/28/00 04:14 PM Re: Latin jmh 05/28/00 08:01 PM
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