mik3cap: (Default)
mik3cap ([personal profile] mik3cap) wrote2009-04-01 01:06 pm
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! DECIMATE

Okay people. Please help me with this one. Even PBS's NOVA is wrong on it, and it's worrying me.

Decimate == REDUCE by ONE TENTH. To decimate something is to destroy ten percent of it.

People CONSTANTLY misuse this word. They should be using the word "devastate" instead.

DEVASTATE, not decimate.

You may now return to your previously scheduled program.

[identity profile] mikecap.livejournal.com 2009-04-02 01:31 pm (UTC)(link)
What are the roots of nice and buxom? Do those pieces get used differently and specifically in different words, like deci- does, or was it just sloppiness?