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<blockquote data-quote="two" data-source="post: 4907243" data-attributes="member: 9002">Pedants at their worstYou two do realize that you are being intensely pedantic and boring here, right?Let's think about what you are claiming.That &quot;decimate&quot; means and only means &quot;what a Roman commander did to his own troops when they lost a battle.&quot;Can you imagine a situation when you would use this word?&nbsp; EVER?&nbsp; Maybe some Roman historians, or those writing Roman Historical Novels.&nbsp; That's about it.For example, the following would make no sense -- according to you two:&quot;Captain, it was terrible.&nbsp; The machine guns cut us down ruthlessly.&nbsp; We lost nine out of our 100 troops.&nbsp; We were decimated!&quot;Pedantic captain:&nbsp; &quot;Actually, we only lost 9%.&nbsp; That's not a decimation.&nbsp; But it is close.&nbsp; You are demoted for incorrect word use.&quot;&quot;Good news captain, one of the wounded just died!&nbsp; That's 10 out of 100!&nbsp; We were decimated!&quot;Pedantic captain:&nbsp; &quot;Actually, 1 in 10 of our men were killed by ENEMIES.&nbsp; Not by a Roman Commander.&nbsp; Therefore your use of the word is incorrect.&nbsp; You are further demoted.&quot;Do you see how stupid this is?You do know English is a living language, right?&nbsp; And to insist upon a narrow definition for a word (a definition about 1,500 years old) which has no parallel in our modern world is a fool's errand?Does the following dialogue make sense to you?&quot;How did your sales presentation go?&quot;&quot;Oh god, it sucked. When I got to the projections, they piled on and decimated me.&nbsp; I never recovered.&quot;Does this mean that the listeners attacked the presenter and attempted to kill 1 in every ten of the (solitary) presenters?&nbsp; Of course not.Did you have any trouble understanding the meaning of the sentence?&nbsp; (if you are honest you will say &quot;no.&quot;&nbsp; The sense of the sentence is clear:&nbsp; &quot;the presentation was bad particularly after the projections&quot;.)Am I revealing something to you when I claim that your objections to the use of &quot;decimate&quot; have far more to do with your desire to &quot;show off&quot; your knowledge of a not-very-obscure etymology, and almost nothing to do with clarifying or saying something interesting about the English language as it is now used?That's not to say people always use words correctly.&nbsp; To call somebody who stands still long enough to kill himself a stillicide is obviously insane.&nbsp; But that's not what is going on here.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="two, post: 4907243, member: 9002"] [b]Pedants at their worst[/b] You two do realize that you are being intensely pedantic and boring here, right? Let's think about what you are claiming. That "decimate" means and only means "what a Roman commander did to his own troops when they lost a battle." Can you imagine a situation when you would use this word? EVER? Maybe some Roman historians, or those writing Roman Historical Novels. That's about it. For example, the following would make no sense -- according to you two: "Captain, it was terrible. The machine guns cut us down ruthlessly. We lost nine out of our 100 troops. We were decimated!" Pedantic captain: "Actually, we only lost 9%. That's not a decimation. But it is close. You are demoted for incorrect word use." "Good news captain, one of the wounded just died! That's 10 out of 100! We were decimated!" Pedantic captain: "Actually, 1 in 10 of our men were killed by ENEMIES. Not by a Roman Commander. Therefore your use of the word is incorrect. You are further demoted." Do you see how stupid this is? You do know English is a living language, right? And to insist upon a narrow definition for a word (a definition about 1,500 years old) which has no parallel in our modern world is a fool's errand? Does the following dialogue make sense to you? "How did your sales presentation go?" "Oh god, it sucked. When I got to the projections, they piled on and decimated me. I never recovered." Does this mean that the listeners attacked the presenter and attempted to kill 1 in every ten of the (solitary) presenters? Of course not. Did you have any trouble understanding the meaning of the sentence? (if you are honest you will say "no." The sense of the sentence is clear: "the presentation was bad particularly after the projections".) Am I revealing something to you when I claim that your objections to the use of "decimate" have far more to do with your desire to "show off" your knowledge of a not-very-obscure etymology, and almost nothing to do with clarifying or saying something interesting about the English language as it is now used? That's not to say people always use words correctly. To call somebody who stands still long enough to kill himself a stillicide is obviously insane. But that's not what is going on here. [/QUOTE]

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