So do you restrict the application of "dilapidated" only to stone structures? Do you believe that "nice" _really_ means "ignorant"? Or that a "gossip" is actually a godparent? That line of thinking is generally known as the etymological fallacy for good reason. DD Farms wrote: > At 06:25 AM 1/30/2008, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote: >> DD, >> Here's the relevant portion of the OED entry for "decimate." {And >> cited definition 4b.} . . . > > DD: I know that the dictionaries go to usage. That hoi polloi use the > word in their ignorance of the underlying derivation does not bother me. > From a Information Theory view, I know what they mean. > >> If you look at the full entry, the military meaning as applied to the >> Roman army practice of killing every tenth man in a mutinous unit is >> the third meaning. The first two, which are obsolete, are "tithing" >> and "dividing into tenths." . . . > > DD: The point being it originally had the general meaning of one tenth. > >> I think you may almost be guilty of the etymological fallacy. But it >> was only the third meaning, so you're partly exonerated. > > DD: I think not. I was implying, not the Roman practice so much, as the > idea of tenth. Still I fall often to word folly. > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/