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Decimation

Mind that apostrophe.
quelquod
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Decimation

#137397

Postby quelquod » May 7th, 2018, 6:40 pm

Tonight's STV news (fishing in Cambodia) :

"...illegal fishing has decimated the fish stocks by 50% ..."

At least it wasn't the good old BBC!

swill453
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Re: Decimation

#137398

Postby swill453 » May 7th, 2018, 6:53 pm


PinkDalek
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Re: Decimation

#137403

Postby PinkDalek » May 7th, 2018, 7:16 pm

Interesting. Having been ticked off for (mis)using decimated in the last decade or so, I'm now little wiser.

Executive summary of the blog:

Etymological Fallacy and decimatus being of relevance.

Possibly.

Gower includes:

We may say 'the attacking troops were decimated', meaning that they suffered heavy losses, but we must not say 'The attacking troops were badly decimated' and still less 'decimated to the extent of 50 per cent or more'..

bungeejumper
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Re: Decimation

#137531

Postby bungeejumper » May 8th, 2018, 1:16 pm

PinkDalek wrote:we must not say 'The attacking troops were badly decimated'.

What rot. If every nine and a halfth soldier was killed, they'd have been very badly decimated. ;)

BJ

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Re: Decimation

#137537

Postby UncleEbenezer » May 8th, 2018, 1:58 pm

PinkDalek wrote:We may say 'the attacking troops were decimated', meaning that they suffered heavy losses, but we must not say 'The attacking troops were badly decimated' and still less 'decimated to the extent of 50 per cent or more'..

I take it you're 110% committed to calling out such abuses?

PinkDalek
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Re: Decimation

#137593

Postby PinkDalek » May 8th, 2018, 4:50 pm

UncleEbenezer wrote:
PinkDalek wrote:We may say 'the attacking troops were decimated', meaning that they suffered heavy losses, but we must not say 'The attacking troops were badly decimated' and still less 'decimated to the extent of 50 per cent or more'..


I take it you're 110% committed to calling out such abuses?


I am 100% not Gower, so you are asking the wrong person!

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Decimation

#137598

Postby UncleEbenezer » May 8th, 2018, 5:10 pm

PinkDalek wrote:
UncleEbenezer wrote:
PinkDalek wrote:We may say 'the attacking troops were decimated', meaning that they suffered heavy losses, but we must not say 'The attacking troops were badly decimated' and still less 'decimated to the extent of 50 per cent or more'..


I take it you're 110% committed to calling out such abuses?


I am 100% not Gower, so you are asking the wrong person!

Quite the contrary!

Whereas it would be futile to ask someone with whom I have no means of communication, you are the person who posted the quote here. Your endorsement seemed clear enough, but its extent - the importance you attach to it and the lengths to which you would go in support of it - called for additional clarification. 8-)

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Re: Decimation

#137613

Postby PinkDalek » May 8th, 2018, 6:17 pm

My point was that Gower would appear to have agreed with the OP. I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure.

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Re: Decimation

#137614

Postby jfgw » May 8th, 2018, 6:20 pm

"...illegal fishing has decimated the fish stocks by 50% ..."


If fish stocks had been decimated log0.90.5 times they would have been reduced by 50%.

(log0.90.5 = approximately 6.579.)

Julian F. G. W.

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Re: Decimation

#137924

Postby scotia » May 9th, 2018, 9:17 pm

"...illegal fishing has decimated the fish stocks by 50% ..."

Well I don't know who carried out the decimation, but it seems to have happened on a certain loch I was fishing on Wednesday, and I most certainly was not the guilty party.

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Re: Decimation

#139025

Postby bungeejumper » May 14th, 2018, 5:24 pm

jfgw wrote:If fish stocks had been decimated log0.90.5 times they would have been reduced by 50%.

So we're using logs on fish now, are we? Shameful. This would never have happened with rods or poles. Not even to perch.

BJ

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Re: Decimation

#139060

Postby Charlottesquare » May 14th, 2018, 8:25 pm

scotia wrote:
"...illegal fishing has decimated the fish stocks by 50% ..."

Well I don't know who carried out the decimation, but it seems to have happened on a certain loch I was fishing on Wednesday, and I most certainly was not the guilty party.


I have a cast that ensures trout stocks are never depleted, the forerunner to catch and release, don't catch so no need to worry about release.


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