Contemporary examples of DECIMATE used in prescriptivist sense

Tue Jan 8 01:15:30 UTC 2008

I found these in about ten minutes using Google. It is just not the case that 
DECIMATE is never used in its etymological sense today.

See the following (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/18/unisys_q3/):

Unisys to decimate workforce after poor Q3
Come in number ten, your time is up

By Joe Fay ? More by this author
Published Tuesday 18th October 2005 14:56 GMT
s/Design/include/_default$ cvs update -p -r.19 article_t Watch online now - 
The findings of The Register's Virtualization Study
Unisys admitted a dismal third quarter yesterday and promptly promised Wall 
St it would dump 10 per cent of its workers over the next year.
The company said hammering down its headcount would cost $250m to $300m over 
the course of 2006, but would result in an analyst-pleasing $250m of savings 
on an annual basis by the end of 2007.
Revenues in the quarter ending September 30 were $1.39bn, down from $1.45bn a 
year ago. Operating losses were $76.2m compared to last year’s $38m 
shortfall, while net loss was $54.3m, compared to a $25.2m profit a year ago.
The revenue shortfall was entirely down to the firm’s technology business, 
which saw revenues slump from $298.6m a year ago to $213.1m.
Unisys said the Q3 numbers reflected weakness in its high-end server 
business, while its services business saw lower than expected revenues, 
under-utilization of personnel and higher implementation costs in project business and “
continuing issues” in two challenging outsourcing operations.
Unisys's current workforce is around 36,000. A year ago it announced plans to 
cut 1,400 staff.

In a message dated 1/7/08 7:30:52 PM, douglas at NB.NET writes:

and this 
(http://www.worldhistoryblog.com/2006/11/did-julius-caesar-decimate-legion.html):

The Caesar episode recounts the story of the 9th Legions mutiny during the 
Great Roman Civil War. Some of the men wanted to be discharged but most wanted 
more pay. The episode shows a stern Caesar order the 9th to be decimated. 
Decimation was a rarely used form of punishment. Jona Lendering at Livius described 
this, "After a very serious offense (e.g., mutiny or having panicked), the 
commander of the commander of a legion would take the decision, and an officer 
would go to the subunit that was to be punished. By lot, he chose one in ten 
men for capital punishment. The surviving nine men were ordered to club the man 
to death. "

The Battle for Rome episode shows the 9th being decimated while a grim faced 
Caesar looks on. The scene is very powerful as we see a man being beaten to 
death while another looks on knowing he is next. However, the story is not true. 
This television show is wrong.

Caesar never ordered that the 9th be decimated. They did indeed mutiny 
demanding more pay. Caesar went to the soldiers.

Adrian Goldsworthy in Caesar: Life of a Colossus describes what happened, "He 
(Caesar) then announced that he intended to decimate the Ninth, an ancient 
punishment that involved selecting by lot one out of every ten men to be beaten 
to death by his comrades. The remainder of the legion would be dishonourably 
discharged from the army. The veteran soldiers were dismayed and their officers 
began to beg their stern commander for mercy. Caesar knew how to work a crowd 
and gradually gave ground, finally saying that 12o ringleaders would need to 
draw lots to choose twelve men to be executed. The selection is supposed to 
have been rigged to ensure the names of the main troublemakers were drawn" (p. 
407).

> ==========
> 
> "Decimate" = "kill 90%":
> 
> ----------
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=YUALAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA161&
> dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3#PPA161,M1
> 
> 1837: <<He had the men of Normandy also brought to Gedefort, and
> decimated them; and when the tenth was set apart, hear what felony
> they committed! they decimated that tenth once more, because it
> appeared too many to save.>>
> 
> ----------
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=fjEIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA90&
> dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3
> 
> 1853: <men, but even women and children as well, were decimated, and nine
> were put to death, while the tenth was reserved alive: ....>>
> 
> This is supposedly translated from Latin: I wonder how it read in Latin.
> 
> ----------
> 
> There are more.
> 
> ==========
> 
> "Decimate" = "kill some particular proportion", I think probably =
> "kill 10%": non-military:
> 
> ----------
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=g8FdSmhLVZYC&pg=PA244&
> dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3
> 
> 1866: <<The pilgrim bands were at once decimated, and more than decimated.>>
> 
> Reference is to cholera.
> 
> ----------
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=0XkAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA592&
> dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3
> 
> 1867: <<... and when Pestilence followed close upon the heels of
> Famine, and more than decimated, or twice decimated, the miserable
> population; ....>>
> 
> Reference is to potato famine.
> 
> ----------
> 
> There are more.
> 
> Here's a good one:
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=1F6tl8hQ2q8C&pg=PA10&
> dq=%22one+in+ten%22+decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=0
> 
> 1866: <<In fact, during his occupation of Vera Cruz from 1858 to
> 1860, he proved an epidemic many degrees more fatal to churches than
> the yellow fever, which decimates the population in the summer
> months. For the yellow fever merely takes off one in ten, whereas
> Juarez destroyed the nine and left the one.>>
> 
> ==========
> 
> -- Doug Wilson
> 
> 
> --
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