"By 1961, eighty-five percent of Africa's elephants had been _decimated_."

[Jonathan Lighter]

But not even this guy would say, "I went on safari and I decimated an
elephant."

Or would he?

JL

On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 10:31 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "By 1961, eighty-five percent of Africa's elephants had been
>              _decimated_."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There's nothing to be said, really. _Decimate_ is just a big word for
> "kill."
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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