'A Hole in the World'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
I could probably rephrase:
why are we so keen to retain archaic meanings when they are so useless?
I always cringe when people use decimate instead of devastate, but I fully admit that that's just priggishness on my part, because I'm smart enough to have been told the difference at some point. Stephen Fry talked me out of it in a podcast last year.
Damn it, ita beat me to Doctor Who. The Master may be nuts, but he's precise.
I'm smart enough to have been told the difference at some point
You don't have to be smart to have been told the difference. You don't even have to be that smart to remember the difference. I just don't get why we need to lose a word. And break a perfectly sensible etymology by inserting "and then, at some point, everyone just got stupid and started using it wrong." It's got "deci" right in there.
I think actionable has a precise legal meaning, not sure I know of it in other contexts.
Oh it absolutely does. And 90% of the time I see it used to mean "things we can/should take action on" as opposed to "things we did that could get us sued." As in: "we will provide actionable recommendations."
Yeah, not really what you're going for there champ, but nice try.
I prefer the Imperial Roman version of decimation. [Link] (warning: Wikipedia, though it mirrors what I was taught in college)
The word lost itself! I think devastate is better usage, but I won't correct someone who uses decimate as a synonym. I think we remember what it means because of its obvious etymology, but that doesn't make it worthy of conservation.
I'd like to point out if you were the one in ten Roman legionnaires killed it was still devastating.
I prefer the Imperial Roman version of decimation. [Link] (warning: Wikipedia, though it mirrors what I was taught in college)
Well, that's just making it actionable putting decimation into action!
I just took a gorgeous strata out of the oven. Fontina, tomato sauce, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, country bread, all covered in bubbling gorgonzola. Can't wait!
Why are you eating at 10pm, bon? Is philosophy a late night gig for Mr. Bon Bob?
Also, your strata sounds delicious.