I've always (mis?)understood decimate to mean "reduce to one tenth of original size." This definition seems to fit better with the catastrophic implications of present usage. Reducing to 90% doesn't seem so horrendous as reducing to 10%. I know the Roman usage was clearly to kill every tenth rebellious soldier as punishment, but has the word evolved to mean nine-tenths? I am mindful of the linguistic rule that usage determines propriety, not the other way around.



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