Evidence for DECIMATE ('one in ten')

Charles Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Thu Jan 10 13:42:24 UTC 2008


Humpty Dumpty was not off his rocker; he was off the wall.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 20:49:19 -0800
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>

>  Should we care how Joe and Jolina Prig use their own vocabularies? That's their business. If they get too wild they, like Humpty Dumpty*, should be regarded as off their rockers.
     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .
>
>  * [" 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less....Impenetrability! That's what I say!' "  These are the words of a solipsistic madman, though unfortunately not often recognized for what they are.]
>
>  JL

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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