decimate

[Eric Nielsen]

I know I can't fight the current usage. Still, I am at least a little
saddened to see the precision lost when decimate and annihilate become
interchangeable.

Eric




>
> On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 3:09 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: decimate
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Now it's moved all the way to "annihilate; wipe out":
> >
> > 2008 Herman J. Viola _Warriors in Uniform_ (Washington, D.C.: National
> > Geographic) 52: The decimation at the Little Big Horn could have been
> > averted had Custer heeded the advice of his Crow scouts.
> >
> > JL
>
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