Crashj wrote:
On or about Fri, 22 Oct 2004 07:28:08 GMT, "Mostyn"
wrote something like:


I have been told that any plants in baskets will have to be removed as
Koicarp will decimate them.


"Decimate", hell, they will eat them all. Decimate is one of those sad
abused latin root words that english speaking people should leave
alone, since we have so many others that are more meaningful. Decimate
does not mean destroy, it means eliminate 1/10.
[end language rant]
snip

According to my dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, the first definition of decimate is "To destroy or kill a
large part." The second definition is the more literal Latin. I dare
say that there are MANY Latin derived words that we no longer use in the
original context. In this case the connotation of war that is usually
associated with this word (and I assume since my dictionary uses the
example of "decimate a cohort" that it is a very old association) makes
the use of "decimate" here quite appropriate.
Living languages can be a pain to keep up with, but that's part of it.

Mark B.