On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 10:44:29 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from Stephen Howard contains these words:
On Fri, 8 Oct 2004 21:46:31 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:
"Stephen Howard" wrote in message
.. .

[snip]

You might have to spend a week doing this, but it will decimate the
population to such an extent that a weekly patrol will probably be
adequate.

There is only one extent to which a population can be decimated,
namely to kill off one in every ten.
That leaves 90% fighting fit.
{:-((

There's always one...

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/decimate.html

Well, you seem to be it.

Franz is quite (in the proper meaning of the word) correct. Indeed, I
should say that his reply was nice...

I suppose you give *EVERYTHING* you read on the WWW total credence?

Not at all, the link simply saved me the time it would take to write
out the reason why he was wrong in a modern context. I suppose I hoped
that the article would encourage an urge to do a spot of research.

His reply was typical of those who would take the high moral ground
when it comes to language - made all the more amusing by the fact that
from the moment they put words down on paper, that same language will
bite them on their collective arses.

And you really couldn't have picked a worse word to back up your
position....'nice' has evolved in meaning a great many times, and
still has many regional variations. Were you to adhere to the
principle you seem to keen to uphold then you just said 'his reply was
foolish'.

Nice going. How's your arse?

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk