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462 points JumpCrisscross | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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more_corn ◴[] No.45078070[source]
Because the cost of goods continues to fluctuate wildly due to ongoing tariff wrangling that nobody asked for or needed.

Also farmers can’t sell anything because retaliation has destroyed international demand (I’d say decimated but it’s way worse than reduction by a tenth)

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unnamed76ri ◴[] No.45078094[source]
I don’t know if you can factually back up your claims but I applaud your proper use of decimate. It is a rare thing. One might even say it happens less than 10% of the time.
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CorrectHorseBat ◴[] No.45078182[source]
It's not proper use, it's archaic use. Do you also claim bread is meat? A cat is a deer?
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1. dahart ◴[] No.45078276{3}[source]
I wouldn’t say archaic or historical definitions are improper, but you’re right - the primary meaning of decimate in English changed and now means to destroy the majority of. Maybe this is because decimate was always very damaging; threat of death is very serious, regardless of the numbers.

That said, I had sweet breads recently. And a cat being a deer sounds strange in English now, but deer is still the word for animal in other Germanic languages today, even if it faded in English, so it doesn’t sound completely archaic.