Does ‘decimate’ really mean ‘obliterate'’? (answer: no)

oxfordwords.blog ^ | 7/9/15 | Shea

[pabianice]

A pet peeve of mine. Almost every news source mis-uses the word.

[dinodino]

I totally agree. I consider misuse of this term a sign of poor teaching (i.e., lack of classical education).

[DesertRhino]

It depends on where you are standing.

[Red Badger]

Means to cut by 10.................

[treetopsandroofs]

“The complaint about the word typically centers on the fact that decimate is used improperly to refer to ‘destroying a large portion of something’, when the ‘true’ meaning of the word is ‘to put to death (or punish) one of every ten’.”

Unfortunately, the “Dictionary” has already rendered your objection irrelevant, just as our “benevolent” SCOTUS and Department of “Justice” have redefined what is right and good for us.

Decimate (Definition 1):

to destroy a great number or proportion of:
The population was decimated by a plague.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/decimate?s=t

[Sgt_Schultze]

Yes. And many think the "inflammable" gasoline in the truck will probably not burn, so let's make up a word flammable to mean exactly the same thing.

[lee martell]

A cartoon character demonstrates how to ‘decimate’; “I HATE those Mee-cess TO PIECES!!!” Pixie & Dixie & Mr. Jinks.

[Dr. Sivana]

there are almost no words in English which have been around for more than a few hundred years without taking on new meanings,

Preventable!

changing their old ones,

Awesome!

or coming to simultaneously mean one thing and the opposite (a type of word known as a contronym).

Cool!

[rockrr]

Notice how few online dictionaries even bother with word etymology now?

[from occupied ga]

Decimation was a punishment is the Roman legions for poor performance

[Fiji Hill]

When President Obama boasted that al-Quaida was “decimated,” my thought was, since its strength has only been reduced by ten percent, what is there to brag about?

[treetopsandroofs]

“Notice how few online dictionaries even bother with word etymology now?”

FWIW, my source did, had to click on “Word Origin”.

[treetopsandroofs]

“When President Obama boasted that al-Quaida was “decimated,” my thought was, since its strength has only been reduced by ten percent, what is there to brag about?”

I wonder if they moved the wrong definition to #1 to support the Fraud. ;)

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

How about the phrase ‘very unique’? That phase is one of my pet peeves. ‘Unique’ means ‘one of a kind’. Something or someone either IS, or IS NOT unique. That phrase would be like saying a woman is ‘partly’ or ‘almost’ pregnant!

I’ve even heard the phrases ‘very unique’ and ‘almost unique’ used by an MBA who taught at a university after an international business culsulting career, including the original Canary Wharf development. Very disappointing to hear such mistakes from a ‘professional’.

[Fiji Hill]

Another pet peeve of mine is the misuse of “apocalypse” to mean calamity or catastrophe, when the word actually means disclosure.

[econjack]

My pet peeve: improper use of "that" instead of "who". Example:

He was the man that robbed the store.

It should be:

He was the man who robbed the store.

I hear this one butchered fairly regularly on the evening news.

[treetopsandroofs]

I like the Urban Dictionary’s #1 definition for “Obama”:

The Messiah for brain-dead Democrats.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Obama

[captain_dave]

One word I don't like is portmanteau, which in English is used to mean a word created by parts of two or more words. The problem is it's a French word for a saddlebag or similar such case or bag. I think a better English word would be "mashup".

[treetopsandroofs]

“More wrong” from Big Bang Theory last night. :)

[Fiji Hill]

How about the phrase ‘very unique’?

Reminds me of a politician who called himself "severely conservative."