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by sfink
2490 days ago
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No, you were right in the first place, RcouF1uZ4gsC was being pedantic. Originally, decimated came from when the Roman army would conquer another group, and would assert dominance (and instill fear) by killing off 1 in every 10 soldiers. So it literally meant removing a tenth. English has mutated the meaning to mean "nearly wipe out", which is very different from the original meaning. But that's common in language. Confusing. |
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