Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation

A book that should be a mandatory read for grammar police, not because it will serve as a bible for their war on error, but because it will be so frustrating for them to agree with.

Take for example the word “decimate”. This is used improperly to refer to “destroying something or a large portion of something”. However, the author pointed out that the “true” meaning of the word is “to put to death, or punish, one of every ten persons”.

So all those YouTubers who keep saying that Thanos “decimated half of the population in the universe” (Avengers: Infinity War) are either getting their numbers or their grammar incorrect (or both). Thanos “literally” killed half, not one-tenth of the population.