-----Original Message----- From: Joseph B. Reid <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: December 6, 2000 13:40 Subject: [USMA:9572] RE: Figures of speech remain >Paul Trustenwrote in USMA 9563: >>. We kind of did this with >>the word "decimate", which literally means to reduce to one-tenth of the >>original quantity, My (Oxford) dictionary says to reduce BY 1/10th (not To 1/10th). Duncan but is first taken to mean some great reduction is >>quantity, as in a decimation of troop strength in wartime. > > >Decimate originally meant to reduce by 1/10, not reduce to 1/10. It was a >measure used in the Roman armies to maintain discipline. If a regiment was >unruly every tenth member was executed. >
