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

[Joel S. Berson]

Groucho said "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he
got into my pajamas I'll never know."  (Animal Crackers)  But this is
only no 53 in the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time.

And a hunter doesn't decimate an elephant, or even
elephants.  Hunting is a sport, Jon!  Hunters *bag* elephants.

Joel

At 5/22/2012 09:30 AM, Alice Faber wrote:
>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

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