misuse of "decimated"
It's one of those odd little language things that bothers me.
"Decimated" is from Latin and means to be reduced by one-tenth. It's one of those absolute words that doesn't take modification by degrees. Just as you can't be "somewhat pregnant" or "partially nude" you can't be "totally decimated". You're either pregnant, nude, or decimated, or you're not.
I'm used to hearing "completely decimated" to mean "completely destroyed" but just now I heard a professional announcer use the word in yet another wrong way, using "utterly decimated" to mean "utterly discouraged". 
Then there's the mixed metaphors. I heard "get the monkey off my shoulder" the other day. A friend of my wife, when she couldn't finish her meal, said "I guess my eyes were bigger than my head".
Last edited by OC Richard; 29th December 15 at 07:47 PM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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