decimate

Wed Jul 21 21:13:56 UTC 2010

As someone pointed out long ago, "decimate" has become something of a
prescriptionist poster-child largely because those of us who have struggled
through Latin classes in the long ago know what it was supposed to mean to
the ancient Romans and we're gonna get to use that knowledge, dagnabbit!
(We sure can't use what we know about the "future passive periphrastic
indicative") (Did I just make that up? Can you be sure?)

Be that as it may. Whatever "decimate" is "supposed" to mean in English, its
movement into the "annihilate" domain is, on the basis of evidence, new.
Nor was it especially predictable.  Probably there have been a few
semiliterates in every generation who have used it in this way but a) there
couldn't have been many or we'd have known about them and b) no literate,
writerly individual would likely have caught on or given it a second thought
if he did.

Suddenly it's 2008 and a very writerly individual under the aegis of the
National Geographical Society, a very mezzobrow organization, not only uses
"decimation" in this new way, it gets printed in a carefully copy-edited
book.  He is probably not the first, but he's the first we know of.

So its newsworthy. To eggheads who edit dictionaries. That's all.

JL

On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 4:38 PM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: decimate
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Precision was probably too exacting a word to use. You're right: it would
> be
> ridiculous to have a word for every percentage of lives lost--unless you
> were in a culture where that was somehow important. And if decimal places
> were allowed....
>
> I learned the every tenth man etymology from a Latin professor years ago;
> but she was illustrating how the different words we have to describe
> destruction and loss of life have degrees of intensity attached and carry
> connotational baggage. She pointed out that originally decimate was not
> used to describe a complete loss of lives--as it sometimes is today. To
> describe complete loss of life there are better choices to this old fogey.
> Decimate seems too mild to describe Custer's massacre, annihilation, and
> utter obliteration. .
>
> And then, there is "pulverize" which is often used  to describe a treatment
> much less severe than being completely reduced to dust.
>
> Eric
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 2:20 PM, David A. Daniel <dad at pokerwiz.com> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: decimate
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Well, actually, since it is no longer common practice in most modern
> armies
> > to punish the troops by executing every tenth man, I can't really think
> of
> > a
> > practical use for decimate other than to describe some kind of serious,
> > though perhaps unquantifiable, destruction or carnage. I suppose I could
> > make sure that a tenth of something, no more no less, had been destroyed
> > (like a tenth of the trees in a forest, destroyed by fire, for example)
> so
> > as not to risk imprecise use of the term but, knowing myself, I'll
> probably
> > just blunder ahead without spending the time or energy to make an
> accurate
> > count. Besides, were I to make an accurate count I might find that 12%,
> or
> > maybe only 9%, of something had been destroyed and then I would be
> without
> > a
> > term to describe the destruction. (duodecimate, novemate? nah)
> > DAD
> >
> >
> > If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> > Of
> > Eric Nielsen
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 1:59 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: decimate
> >
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> >
> > 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:
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> > > > Sender: =C2  =C2  =C2  American Dialect Society <
> > ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=
> > >
> > > > Poster: =C2  =C2  =C2  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject: =C2  =C2  =C2 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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