[SpamCop-Social] Re: If you were all powerful

[Charles]

It wasn't me!  It was Guy Macon!

> Another one that annoys me is the use of "decimate" to mean
> "utterly destroy."  It means "reduce by 10%."

Uh, no, it doesn't.

"Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a 
punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions. Today this 
meaning is commonly extended to include the killing of any large 
proportion of a group."

Common usage determines meaning as common usage ends up determining 
spelling.  In the case of 'decimate', you have to read down to the 
third definition before you find your 10% meaning but the first meaning 
is "To destroy or kill a large part of (a group)."

Thus, in the future all adjectives will also be adverbs and cartooney 
will be the correct spelling for cartoony.  (Or, at the very least it 
will be the correct spelling for it when used as a noun.)