More on "decimate"

[goofy dreaming]

How is it different from this

...mercantile districts of cities are likely to be decimated by direct hits
of explosive bombs or incendiary bombs - Horatio Bond, ed., Fire Defense,
1941


...a severe frost set in... and my field of turnips was absolutely
decimated; scarce a root was left untouched - Scotsman, 1839 (in Hodgson
1889)


Both from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage page 321

On Feb 12, 2008 12:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      More on "decimate"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> So the latest is, "to destroy; reduce to rubble":
>
>  2006 Brad Prager in Wilfried Wilms & William Rasch, eds. _Bombs Away!_
> (Amsterdam: Rodopi) 25: The destruction of Germany caused by the Air War has
> been conventionally represented through images of decimated cathedrals and
> crucifixes skewed in all directions.
>
>  This usage must be stopped because a voice in my brain tells me I've
> never encountered it before plus it sounds stupid.  Or did I see an example
> here earlier?
>
>  If so, it still sounds stupid. Brad Prager is Associate Professor of
> German at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
>
>  JL
>
>
>
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