Continuing to catch up on things, last week's poetry prompt was to play with words, specifically if possible in the form of an acrostic. I decided to write about my verbal pet peeve.
Decimate is not the same as devestate or obliterate or wiped out.
Easy mistake to make, but
Commentators on the news should know better.
It comes from Latin "Decimus"
Meaning to lose or harm 1 in 10 persons.
(Romans used to draw straws and punish 1 in 10 captives or solidiers)
And although I do not mind when the general public does it
The media says things and places are decimated all the time
Exciting and annoying me unneccesarily.
Things like this bug me too. How hard is it to crack a dictionary and use a word that actually means what you want to say?
ReplyDeleteThis particular one drives me crazy...don't know if its because I studied Latin in high school, or just because I have read alot about the Romans, but it gets to me. I hear "The boardwalk was decimated" and I want to throw things at the TV and yell "That's only 10%! The word you want is devestated"
DeleteHah! Perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan, I am a word geek.
Delete