Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

By the way, although it's commonly misused, the word decimate(d) is pretty simple Latin and means to reduce by one tenth. In war, that means you've "blooded" your troops and it's actually a good thing, their experience has increased a lot, some of the weaknesses have been worked out and you know what can go wrong. It is not a synonym for destroyed, annihilated or massacred. In a case like that where almost everyone seems to be misusing the word I simply find another word or phrase to mean what I really mean, or sometimes I'm just stubborn and use it correctly anyway. I never misuse a word where I know better, even if my audience will understand its incorrect meaning. Another example of this sort of thing is the idiom "the lion's share". That idiom did not originally mean "most". It meant ALL, every last crumb. Such a shame it's lost that meaning.

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ORIGINAL: geofflambert

When will centimeter mean an inch? The word is practically its own etymology. I don't think deci will ever mean 90.

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ORIGINAL: geofflambert

When will centimeter mean an inch? The word is practically its own etymology. I don't think deci will ever mean 90.

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ORIGINAL: cbrandonellis

quote:

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

By the way, although it's commonly misused, the word decimate(d) is pretty simple Latin and means to reduce by one tenth. In war, that means you've "blooded" your troops and it's actually a good thing, their experience has increased a lot, some of the weaknesses have been worked out and you know what can go wrong. It is not a synonym for destroyed, annihilated or massacred. In a case like that where almost everyone seems to be misusing the word I simply find another word or phrase to mean what I really mean, or sometimes I'm just stubborn and use it correctly anyway. I never misuse a word where I know better, even if my audience will understand its incorrect meaning. Another example of this sort of thing is the idiom "the lion's share". That idiom did not originally mean "most". It meant ALL, every last crumb. Such a shame it's lost that meaning.

You bring up an interesting point. Of course you are technically correct in its original Latin meaning - but when does a word or phrase change after years of "misuse". I would argue decimated has entered that phase where more people recognize it as meaning destroyed or laid waste than think of the original Latin meaning. But what do I know I'm just a caveman

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ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Disagree about the pronunciation of forte. It is written like that because the English language does not use accent characters, but the word itself is French, and should be written with the accent: forté. You will also find some people writing "sorty" for sending their forces out to do battle. The word is French, from the verb sortir, and should be spelled sortie. In the end it doesn't matter that much - English cookbooks use the term saute and every cook knows it is pronounced with the French accent sauté, whether the accent is printed there or not.

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ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

It may also depend upon the country that you live in as to what English vernacular is used and thus how the French (Pomme) words are spoken.

As an example, the French word "fillet" is pronounced differently in England than in the United States of America.

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ORIGINAL: cbrandonellis

quote:

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

It may also depend upon the country that you live in as to what English vernacular is used and thus how the French (Pomme) words are spoken.

As an example, the French word "fillet" is pronounced differently in England than in the United States of America.

As is the word valet evidently. My wife was recently watching Downton Abbey and they kept pronouncing the word as val-IT