Hacker News Reader

Comment by broof | Hacker News Reader

10% of the force is not a small number but it’s also not a decimation.

To be pedantic (and technically correct),

"n the military of ancient Rome, decimation (from Latin decimatio 'removal of a tenth'[1]) was a form of military discipline in which every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his cohort." [0]

So, a 10% cut fits the definition.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimation_(punishment)

Actually it’s quite literally a decimation, if you know the root of the word.

The word decimate comes from the Latin decimatio, which was a form of military discipline where one of every ten men would be killed. So although we usually think of 'decimate' as meaning removing some large proportion of something, it can also still mean removing 10 percent!

Decimate means killing a tenth. I think that should come out to about 10%

That's actually a classic definition of the word. Hence the deci- prefix.

Really? Decimation is the practise of killing every 10th soldier in a group as a punishment. 10% IS that

I think all these identical comments need to take into account reality - most people reading that will not think "oh, so a 10% reduction, then". It's technically correct, and probably chosen to motte and bailey both interpretations, but it's obviously misleading.

It depends. A 10% reduction in GDP, as an example, would result in great misery. A 10% staff reduction on an already understaffed organisation probably has a very great impact. The damage is probably being expressed very well

A 10% reduction in GDP is different to a 99% reduction, which is how most people interpret "decimated".

I know it isn't worth replying but I never heard of 99% as the definition of decimated.

> I know it isn't worth replying

The immediately self-contradictory passive aggression is pointless.

> I never heard of 99% as the definition of decimated.

Most people hear decimated and think "totally gone" or "almost totally gone".

Cambridge dictionary: the act of killing a something in large numbers, or reducing something severely.

Not totally gone or almost gone, merely "severely" or in "large numbers".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com