alt Hacker NewsI'm just annoyed that decimation would be a 10% layoff; standard if even weak-sauce these days. Too many people use "kill one in ten" to mean "kill them all, let God sort it out."
Replies
ajkjk • today at 4:46 PM
at a practical level that word hasn't meant "one in ten" for like, decades. probably just need to get used to it.
fuzzy_biscuit • today at 6:26 PM
Etymology is not usage though. I get where you're coming from, but fighting vernacular is all but useless outside of academia.
Semantic drift has always happened and will always happen in languages.
Decimation has been commonly used as a synonym for absolute destruction for a long time, being annoyed by it is wasted energy, better to let it go and accept the new meaning.