4 ms·
I feel irrational hatred towards people who think "decimated" is a synonym of "destroyed".
by Aspos 1y ago
I feel irrational hatred towards people who think "decimated" is a synonym of "destroyed".
- foobarian 1y agoThis wasn't on my radar until... now! I will take up your banner with glee
- Aspos 1y agoI'll sacrifice a goat in Jupiter's temple for you.
- BobAliceInATree 1y agoThat ship has long since sailed. OED dates the first known use of "to reduce drastically or severely; to destroy, ruin, devastate" to 1660.
- lampiaio 1y agoHonest advice: free yourself from that and live a happier life. And I don't mean it in an "ignorance is bliss" kind of way, on the contrary really. Otherwise, to be consistent, you'd need to - demand your salary be paid in salt - have all arenas be covered in sand - calculate only with pebbles - only allow xylophones made of wood And so on. It's a tiring journey to embark on -- oops, one can only embark on ships...
- adfm 1y agoI take decimate to mean reduced by 10% and annihilate to destroy utterly.
- hn_throwaway_99 1y agoI have literally (and I mean literally as in literally, not just for emphasis) never heard anyone in common usage use decimate to mean "reduce by 10%". Meanings change over time, and whenever this comes up it always just feels like some folks are adamant about the archaic usage just to (try to) show how smart they are.
- ashdksnndck 1y agoAnd here the clickbait titles on YouTube had me thinking “decimate” is a synonym for “insult”.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- spookie 1y agoAll my memory arenas are covered in sand though
- alberto_ol 1y agoAnd December is the tenth month of the year
- thaumasiotes 1y agoAll xylophones are made of wood. If they're made of metal (or if they're made of wood and have sounding tubes), you call them something else. https://www.savagechickens.com/2007/08/public-service-announcement.html https://www.savagechickens.com/2007/08/public-service-announ...
- seizethecheese 1y agoVery irrational, yes, considering one definition of “decimate” is actually roughly “destroyed”. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate
- Qazar 1y ago[dead]
- samplatt 1y agoThere was an old Tenant-era Dr Who episode where The Master says "shall we decimate them? yes, let's decimate them. REMOVE ONE TENTH." I instantly howled with anguish. Surely decimating them should mean removing NINE tenths. The Master was a small-minded coward.
- DrBazza 1y agoI'd bet 'learnings' gets you going as well, and if it doesn't, it should, and I apologise for introducing you to some new modern idiocy. Seriously though, languages change.
- globular-toast 1y agoI'm mildly annoyed that the word "alternate" has come to mean the same thing as "alternative". I'm annoyed because "alternate" is actually a useful word that I'd like to use sometimes to express myself concisely and unambiguously. But "decimate"? How often do you feel the need to refer to reducing the size of something by one tenth? This is bizarrely specific and I highly doubt it ever has any real applications unless you invent one.
- Tallain 1y agoLanguage changes over time. Release your hate. Get with the times.