More on "decimate"

[goofy dreaming]

I assumed you thought it was a new usage, so I was pointing out that it
wasn't, that's all.

On Feb 12, 2008 1:02 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: More on "decimate"
>
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>
>        There are plenty of examples that could be cited, which does not
> by itself make this usage non-stupid.  Would you feel differently if the
> cathedrals were only partially (one-tenth?) destroyed?
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 12:37 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> 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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