More on "decimate"

[Brenda Lester]

JL,

  you cannot control language.  have you had enough of "resonate," "at the end of the day," and "bottom line"? how about PIN (and VIN) number? i won't touch "unique" and "perfect."

  bl


goofy dreaming <goofy at DREAMING.ORG> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: goofy dreaming
Subject: Re: More on "decimate"
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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 wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Baker, John"
> Subject: Re: More on "decimate"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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