D is for Decimate

decimate.

Literally the word means to reduce by a tenth (from the ancient practice of punishing the mutinous or cowardly by killing every tenth man). By extension it may be used to describe the inflicting of heavy damage, but it should never be used to denote annihilation [oops], as in this memorably excruciating sentence cited by Fowler: “Dick, hotly pursued by the scalp-hunter, turned in his saddle, fired, and literally decimated his opponent.” Equally to be avoided are contexts in which the word’s use is clearly inconsistent with its literal meaning, as in “Frost decimated an estimated 80 percent of the crops.”

- Bryson, Bill. Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. [Brackets mine].

Today, during my reading of this fabulous dictionary, I covered “D”. I am guilty of using decimate to denote annihilation. I am sure somewhere in this blog, perhaps recently, I have used said word to produce an image in your head of a flattened building, when in fact it should have only given you an image of a building with the corner room missing. My apologies.