It is worthwhile noting that the original technical meaning was 'a reduction of 10%', which does not, to my mind, chime at all with 'drastically reduce'. I know that's how it is, I think lazily, often used nowadays but it does allow 'decimate' to be used so loosely that it loses meaning. And it can be confusing to those who know it's original meaning. I think that the fact that decimate and devastate are close homonyms does not help things here.Ā
Hi, I'm after a length of plastic or aluminium pipe, 40-50mm diameter and at least 600mm long. An unwanted offcut of plumbing soil pipe would be ideal. Many thanks!
Which is why I was careful to specify "the true definition"!
A bit like "dilemma", generally used for any tricky decisions but should really be where there are only two options, both with equally bad outcomes...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.