yes,welcome carambola, you'll find that half of us here are prescriptives, and half here are descriptives--
but, as for who belongs to which half, that is harder to figure, since we are always changing sides!
by prescriptive/descriptive, i am referring to the idea that dictionaries should prescribe how a words should be used, (set standards, and expect the speakers of english to keep to these standards) vs. thise who think dictionaries should describe how words are actually being used, (how english is actually being spoken, recording the shifts in usage and not presuming there is a right or wrong way)
The word decimate is a fine example of the division- prescriptives think it should retain its old meaning of 10%, descriptives acknowledge the current meaning is 90%.
you sound this moment like a descriptive, but as time passes i am sure we'll find small pockets of resistance to change- we all have them!
