Nothing much, just another now less useful word, the product of subliterate morons (usually in the Hivemind and Academia–people with NO excuse for misusing words, since, after all, words are their trade) misusing it so often:
decimate
Look at the word. Really look. “Deci-” is a prefix we’re all familiar with (well, all the folks who read here, meaning at least literate enough to read their way out of a paper bag). From the Latin, “decimus,” which means (roughly) “a tenth part”. Yep, until subliterate morons began debasing the word, “decimate” meant to punish (by death) a tenth of a group of people. It came into being as a punishment for a century of Roman soldiers whenever any of their group deserted in battle: any ONE soldier fled the field (or tried to) and 1/10 of the soldiers of that century were selected by lot for execution.
Decimation was a terrible punishment and a strong pressure on the group to make sure ALL soldiers stuck to the line of battle.
“Decimate” as it has come to be used as a result of influence by dumbasses no longer has that useful meaning of a destruction of a tenth of a population but means only the destruction of some meaninglessly general and unknown number. “Decimated” as used by even more massively stupid people is sometimes used in the construction, “utterly decimated” to mean “completely destroyed”.
These “people” make me want to puke. Yes, I meant “people” as a sneer.
Oh, just ran into a use that’s so very stupid I very nearly put down the book I found it in to write the author a nasty note:
*gag-spew*
I guess that’s what I should expect from trying a $0.99 Kindle book whose author has stated something to the effect that well-known authors whose (Kindle) books sell for $9.99 have to be 10 times as good to compete with him. Sadly, I’ve read similar constructions in books by “those” authors as well…
Still, the author of the abortion above did manage to redeem himself a little later (hey! I AM going to get my $0.99 worth of reading out of the thing!) with,
I simply have to slip that into a conversation sometime.
Now Y doo u insist peepul yooz werds da way old peepul did. U nose dem fokes compl.. mak tings too hard.
Langwidge (da way peeps tok) volvs on tym ya no?
Actually I deliberately misuse words in conversation with my boys all the time and love it when they correct me. But otherwise it really irritates me when people are sub-literate and trying to sound educated. I’m also bothered when they make absolutely no effort to use grammar or basic spelling rules when they write. Usually that last bothers me most when I took the same classes in school with them way back when.
“U nose dem fokes… ”
Too literate, Perri.
You’ve just reminded me to tell you that I just bought a copy of “The Well-Spoken Thesaurus,” which is supposed to suggest better ways to say everyday things. After I started reading it, though, I could only think of you, as it was full of misused words.
Oh, dear. “[F]ull of misused words” reminds you of me. *heh*