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

[Alice Faber]

Didn't Groucho Marx or Rodney Dangerfield already say that? (If they
didn't, they should've.)

On 5/22/12 9:04 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> 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
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
 =======================================================================
Alice Faber                                       faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                            tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                               fax (203) 865-8963

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org