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Technically they’ve been triple-decimating everyone, since to decimate is to kill one tenth of

staunch 6y ago
You've got two "aCkShuAlly" comments in this thread and they're both wrong. 1. The historical origin of "decimate" does not define the English word. Many words have historical origins that differ with their current definitions. 2. The word "fiscal" does not refer only to "taxes" but also to financial matters in general.
- tommymachine 6y ago
  I find it odd that in your first point, you seem to argue that only the most popular, most used dictionary definitions shall count as being “correct” and in your second, you seem to argue just the opposite! By the way, I never the said the guy was wrong to say fiscally. It was sort of a sloppy usage of the word—in my opinion of course. Which I hope its obvious that this is, seeing as its a comment in a forum! And I’m certainly not wrong to say that fiscally is to do with taxes. I might have been wrong assuming that he or she was looking for a less ambiguous word. I do tend to assume the best in people, and am often wrong.
  - staunch 6y ago
    > "...only the most popular, most used dictionary definitions shall count..." No, I just understand that words can have multiple definitions and any of them is perfectly valid to use. You were simply wrong to "correct" them in both cases. Here's what you did: > "...a comment in a forum" I think you meant "a comment on a web site" because a forum means an ancient Roman marketplace...see how stupid this game is?
    - tommymachine 6y ago
      I never corrected anyone, nor called anyone stupid— like you have. Both comments were tongue in cheek. Apparently since more explanation is clearly warranted, I’ll provide it. In the comment about fiscally, I thought it odd that the person appeared to be concerned with whether indie developers, of which I am one, were going to be contributing to government revenues, since I’ve only ever heard fiscally used in a tax context by professionals. And certainly when I approach my financial strategy, taxes are always a consequence of the goal, and not the goal itself. In the other comment, I was making a joke, which seems to have gone a bit over your head. By the way, a “web site” is simply the location where an arachnid...
      - staunch 6y ago
        Nah, I didn't call you stupid. I just meant that those kinds of "technically..." comments are lame and so often wrong. And they create boring threads like the one we're in here :-) Anyway, I think you get my point and hopefully I wasn't too harsh but sorry if I was. Have a good day/night!
ascorbic 6y ago
In Latin, sure, but not in English. It's meant "kill or destroy a large proportion" for centuries. Wait til you hear about "December"
- staunch 6y ago
  Soon we will be told that a century cannot refer to a 100 year period but only a unit of Roman soldiers. The list of words that no longer mean what they once did is very long and it's lame (and wrong) to "correct" people like this.
  - tommymachine 6y ago
    A century can only refer to 100 miles ridden by bicycle
- tommymachine 6y ago
  December is actually the tenth month. Jan & Feb were added later. It’s the tenth month that was added, though not the tenth month since the start of the year. The array of calendar months was shifted to make room for two additional months at the beginning of the year. If I have a son, in December, then I have another son the next year in January, which one is my first son?
  - ascorbic 6y ago
    > Jan & Feb were added later. At which point it was no longer the tenth month.
    - tommymachine 6y ago
      My tenth son will always be my tenth son. Though his birthday falls 10 months after that of my twelfth son (whose birthday came in the second month of the calendar year in which he was born), my tenth son will always have come out of the womb tenth!
      - 6y ago
mdonahoe 6y ago
Thanks, I learned something today!

You've got two "aCkShuAlly" comments in this thread and they're both wrong. 1. The historical origin of "decimate" does not define the English word. Many words have historical origins that differ with their current definitions. 2. The word "fiscal" does not refer only to "taxes" but also to financial matters in general.

tommymachine 6y ago
I find it odd that in your first point, you seem to argue that only the most popular, most used dictionary definitions shall count as being “correct” and in your second, you seem to argue just the opposite! By the way, I never the said the guy was wrong to say fiscally. It was sort of a sloppy usage of the word—in my opinion of course. Which I hope its obvious that this is, seeing as its a comment in a forum! And I’m certainly not wrong to say that fiscally is to do with taxes. I might have been wrong assuming that he or she was looking for a less ambiguous word. I do tend to assume the best in people, and am often wrong.
- staunch 6y ago
  > "...only the most popular, most used dictionary definitions shall count..." No, I just understand that words can have multiple definitions and any of them is perfectly valid to use. You were simply wrong to "correct" them in both cases. Here's what you did: > "...a comment in a forum" I think you meant "a comment on a web site" because a forum means an ancient Roman marketplace...see how stupid this game is?
  - tommymachine 6y ago
    I never corrected anyone, nor called anyone stupid— like you have. Both comments were tongue in cheek. Apparently since more explanation is clearly warranted, I’ll provide it. In the comment about fiscally, I thought it odd that the person appeared to be concerned with whether indie developers, of which I am one, were going to be contributing to government revenues, since I’ve only ever heard fiscally used in a tax context by professionals. And certainly when I approach my financial strategy, taxes are always a consequence of the goal, and not the goal itself. In the other comment, I was making a joke, which seems to have gone a bit over your head. By the way, a “web site” is simply the location where an arachnid...
    - staunch 6y ago
      Nah, I didn't call you stupid. I just meant that those kinds of "technically..." comments are lame and so often wrong. And they create boring threads like the one we're in here :-) Anyway, I think you get my point and hopefully I wasn't too harsh but sorry if I was. Have a good day/night!

ascorbic 6y ago

In Latin, sure, but not in English. It's meant "kill or destroy a large proportion" for centuries. Wait til you hear about "December"

staunch 6y ago
Soon we will be told that a century cannot refer to a 100 year period but only a unit of Roman soldiers. The list of words that no longer mean what they once did is very long and it's lame (and wrong) to "correct" people like this.
- tommymachine 6y ago
  A century can only refer to 100 miles ridden by bicycle
tommymachine 6y ago
December is actually the tenth month. Jan & Feb were added later. It’s the tenth month that was added, though not the tenth month since the start of the year. The array of calendar months was shifted to make room for two additional months at the beginning of the year. If I have a son, in December, then I have another son the next year in January, which one is my first son?
- ascorbic 6y ago
  > Jan & Feb were added later. At which point it was no longer the tenth month.
  - tommymachine 6y ago
    My tenth son will always be my tenth son. Though his birthday falls 10 months after that of my twelfth son (whose birthday came in the second month of the calendar year in which he was born), my tenth son will always have come out of the womb tenth!
    - 6y ago

mdonahoe 6y ago

Thanks, I learned something today!