decimated 10 December 2008
This is in from Jonathan, a dear friend of mine:
‘At the risk of sounding even more like my mother than usual but confident in the belief that you’ll be grateful – on balance – for the info, I think the word you’re looking for is “decimated”. This derives (of course) from the Latin word for “ten” (as in decimal) and refers to a particularly drastic form of “correction” meted out by the Roman armies whereby one in ten of an offending group or population was “removed”. So the modern use (mis-use?) of the word to mean “to destroy completely” is out by a factor of 9 approximately (as your mathematically-inclined godchild* would quickly point out). Now, aren’t you glad I cleared that up for you?’
NOW! I have brainy/learned friends and, yes, I’ll thump him about a bit for being a swot next time I see him, fear not…interesting though, eh? And never say I don’t further yeer knowledge by posting the important shit in this site.
*Miss Emily
