That’s all well and good in the historical sense. But I’m sure you’re aware there can be more than 1 meaning of a word…
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Like when no means yes?
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Those sound like perfect opportunities to learn another language…
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Except that “Decimate”, a word of non-English origin, hasn’t meant that since the time of ancient Rome. Which was a little while ago now…
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I’d be careful there number 10.
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IIRC decimate always meant reduce by one tenth until the '90s when newsreaders started using it to sound impressive without knowing its meaning - ‘US forces have totally decimated the Iraqi army in Kuwait’ etc… I would sit there thinking ‘Hmm, doesn’t sound too bad then’.
Dylan Shiel is also interested in how the word Radical has evolved to describe the opposite of its true meaning i.e. central / fundamental, not extreme.
Century : “a subdivision of the Roman legion.”
Forum : “the marketplace or public place of an ancient Roman city forming the center of judicial and public business.”
Tribune : “a Roman official under the monarchy and the republic with the function of protecting the plebeian citizen from arbitrary action by the patrician magistrates.”
Missiles : “Gifts thrown to the crowds by Roman emperors.”
Actor : “In Roman law, one that conducts a legal action.”
Legion : “the principal unit of the Roman army comprising 3000 to 6000 foot soldiers with cavalry.”
Except apart from century (centum=100) none of those words contain a number denoting specific not approximate or total. We decimated Carlton in 2019, nah, we completely destroyed the farks.
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Rubbish! So because a bunch of US newreaders totally misused a perfectly good word in the 90s, we have to accept we no longer have a word that means ‘reduce by one tenth’? But we do have yet another synonym for devastate?
Meanwhile two people can use Decimate and mean totally different things leaving the audience confused.
A perfectly good scalpel becomes just another hammer. Devo were right!
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10. Darren Bewick.
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Did you even read it? I don’t know where you’re getting this US newsreaders in the 90s thing from.
That article refers to it being used differently centuries ago, and I take the word of Merriam-Webster over “Dude on internet” when it comes to etymology
"Essendon have decimated their senior list by delisting: Goddard, J Merrett, Colyer and Green.”
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It’s just a cool sounding word and people feel cool when they say it. Nobody’s going to stop using it to describe how awesomely they took out a lander full of aliens in Halo. But there are other words that actually mean what’s intended. Someone has to speak up for them before they’re completely decimated.
Check (deci) Mate.
Not grammatically
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I checked with Dylan & he said ‘I prefer language to evolve, not devolve’.
He is very inside / outside where language is concerned.
Was he wearing and Energy Dome?
Shiel will be good midfield depth and should keep his spot on the list in 2019.
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Dylan would be devo to see his thread decimated like this.
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Dylan, as erudite as he seems, would also be interested in WTF people (including a great many here) do not know the meaning of words like “disinterested”, “pristine”, “enormity”, let alone always using “i.e.” when they clearly mean farking “e. g.”
A little off topic but I have been informed Ben Rutten was the real ‘brains trust’ behind the Tiggas success, not so much Caracella. Here’s hoping!!
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