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Unsurprisingly the word is used in it's current sense rather than it's archaic sense.
by ig1 14y ago
Unsurprisingly the word is used in it's current sense rather than it's archaic sense.
- biot 14y agoI guess I feel compelled to call it out for two reasons. First, because the current usage is historically incorrect and I don't subscribe to the philosophy that continued incorrect use of a word makes the incorrect popular definition acceptable. Second, even with a modern interpretation, in reference to Oracle it is still incorrect. The modern sense of decimated means "a large proportion of" according to Oxford. This is vague. When talking about a pandemic taking out a large proportion of a population, 40% would be pretty damned large. Yet Oracle's case is now essentially nonexistent so merely saying "a large proportion of" is insufficient and there are far better words that convey how Oracle's case has been damaged.
- orthecreedence 14y agoSo are you idealistically opposed to evolution of language by repurposing of words? I've always found it an interesting debate...correctness vs popularity. In this case, the root of the word (dec...ten) makes it obvious the "correct" usage of the word as you point out (I also didn't know that that's what "decimated" means, thanks for pointing it out). So I tend to agree with you there. On the other hand, when defining language itself, all I can really come up with is "a generally agreed-upon form of communication." If enough people agree that "decimated" means "destroyed" (as I thought it did), then doesn't that in itself morph the language? Then there's the big-picture view: the language is going to morph by general consensus whether or not I agree with it.
- biot 14y agoFor some words, I prefer to cling to the last vestiges of the archaic definition until there's nothing left. And "decimated" is too cool of a word to, er... annihilate the original meaning.
- saraid216 14y agoI think a solid case could be made that 10% of the original meaning is left. If you really like the original meaning, then you should increase its usage in as originally meant so that there's a reason for dictionaries to place the original definition next to the ones that other people actually use in real life.
- biot 14y agoLike this? http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate All those in favor of me increasing its usage, please form a line.
- Matt_Cutts 14y agoIf it makes you feel better, I cling to the original "10% reduction" meaning of decimated too. :)
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- rhizome 14y agoYou might be interested in David Foster Wallace's "Tense Present," which touches on descriptive vs. prescriptive linguistics, among other things: http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/DFW_present_tense.html http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/DFW_present_tense.html
- orthecreedence 14y agoThanks, this looks like a really interesting read.
- evincarofautumn 14y agoWould you then say that your use of guess is incorrect because the Old English gessen meant estimate and not suppose? That you are literally compelled in the sense that cattle are driven together, like the Latin word compellere? Or that you’re literally calling out the title to fight? I won’t go past your first sentence because I already sound like an ass. But you see what I mean: language changes over time. Meanings are lost or transformed or extended by analogy and, though it may pain us, “incorrect” uses abound and eventually become the norm. You don’t have to like it or agree with it, but it does happen, and prescriptivism gets you nowhere in discussions of language.
- reitzensteinm 14y agoSometimes when arguing on HN, I feel like I've brought a knife to a gunfight.
- evincarofautumn 14y agoHah, I feel the same way a lot, actually. But occasionally we find ourselves in our element, and it’s like “Wait a minute, I do know things!” Or at least know where to look them up and how to present them intelligently. ;)
- nnnnnnnn 14y agoI try to phrase things in terms of sharing or helping instead of arguing. Not everything must be an argument! The less adversarial the phrasing, the easier it is to accept correction from a peer.
- biot 14y agoWith respect to "guess" instead of "suppose", I'm essentially being sloppy in my writing and I really would like to improve that. I know you were just making a point, but it is fair criticism. As I wrote in another reply, I think I just really like the original meaning of decimated and I feel it's a shame to lose that due to popular [mis]use, even if that's just how language works. [Edited to remove logical argument and replace it with sentimental one.]