staving Nomad of Norad:
> > "To decimate smthng" means "to reduce smthng by removing one-tenth of it".
>
>Interesting. The way I've always seen it used, "decimate" = "destroy,
>obliterate"
>
>As in, "The swarming ghllkkkxxoorvvian warfleet swooped down over the
>continents of Earth and decimated the worlds population..."
The original meaning was "to punish a disgraced military unit by choosing
1/10 of the soldiers by lot to be summarily executed by their comrades." As
practiced in the Roman army.
Pete