! DECIMATE

[mik3cap]

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.

Comments

[mikecap.livejournal.com]

There's no excuse for saying "The Spanish Inquisition decimated the Mayan culture by burning all their works". "Significantly reduce" is not the same as "totally destroy". This is all just intellectual slippage and it's pissing me off.