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

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/22/2012 10:31 AM, Baker, John wrote:
>I wouldn't, but he might.  We know that there are people for whom
>decimated=killed, with respect to a single individual.
>
>I like the decimated hydra, though.

But wouldn't it take forever to decimate a Hydra?  (Unless you're as
clever as Hercules.)  The denominator would keep on increasing.

Perhaps a decimated Kali?  (If one is not decimated first.)  I *had*
thought that this analogy was only closer to 10% than is 85%, being
either 25% (considering the traditional number of arms); or 16 2/3%
(see the six-armed Kali in Ray Harryhausen's "The Golden Voyage of
Sinbad").  But I am informed by Wikipedia that "In the ten-armed form
of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten
faces and ten feet and three eyes." Bingo!

Joel

>John Baker
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>Behalf Of Laurence Horn
>Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 10:26 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: "By 1961, eighty-five percent of Africa's elephants had
>been _decimated_."
>
>On May 22, 2012, at 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
>
>No; a hydra, maybe, but not an elephant.  _Decimate_ is closer to
>'wipe out a large/significant proportion of', not a huge change from
>'wipe out a tenth of', given how semantic widening typically works.
>
>LH
> >
> > 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
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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