Shot at endeavor 5 checkride failures.
07-14-2018, 09:51 PM
#72
Disinterested Third Party
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,018
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate
Definition of decimate
decimated; decimating
transitive verb
1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of decimate a regiment
2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from
poor as a decimated Cavalier —John Dryden
3 a : to reduce drastically especially in number
cholera decimated the population
Kamieniecki's return comes at a crucial time for a pitching staff that has been decimated by injuries. —Jason Diamos
b : to cause great destruction or harm to
firebombs decimated the city an industry decimated by recession
decimated; decimating
transitive verb
1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of decimate a regiment
2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from
poor as a decimated Cavalier —John Dryden
3 a : to reduce drastically especially in number
cholera decimated the population
Kamieniecki's return comes at a crucial time for a pitching staff that has been decimated by injuries. —Jason Diamos
b : to cause great destruction or harm to
firebombs decimated the city an industry decimated by recession
07-15-2018, 04:56 AM
#73
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: FAA 'Flight Check'
Posts: 13,837
So 3.b. fits fine with the troll's usage.
Plus - maybe he really is English:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/decimate
Usage
I guess JB can be counted on as a traditionalist in this sense.
Plus - maybe he really is English:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/decimate
Usage
Historically, the meaning of the word decimate is ‘kill one in every ten of (a group of people)’. This sense has been more or less totally superseded by the later, more general sense ‘kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of’, as in the virus has decimated the population. Some traditionalists argue that this is incorrect, but it is clear that it is now part of standard English
07-15-2018, 07:57 AM
#74
Disinterested Third Party
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,018
The root of the word is deci, which is tenth. The Romans motivated their troops by decimation; desertion and some failures in battle were handled by killing every tenth man; decimation. It quite literally means "removal of a tenth."
Usage of the phrase "I was decimated" is slang and poor grammar (unless one intends to suggest that one tenth of himself was harmed or killed off, or that he was divided into tenths), generally marking the user as one who doesn't know the meaning of the world. Also those who would call for the dictionary meaning of the word.
A more correct term may have been "I was devastated," though it is more melodrama than anything.
Usage of the phrase "I was decimated" is slang and poor grammar (unless one intends to suggest that one tenth of himself was harmed or killed off, or that he was divided into tenths), generally marking the user as one who doesn't know the meaning of the world. Also those who would call for the dictionary meaning of the word.
A more correct term may have been "I was devastated," though it is more melodrama than anything.
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