I do like CAPTCHA.
Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
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Words or phrases that annoy you (even if you can't explain why) . . .
- Thread starter usagora
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Well I’ll be damned. Had no idea that was an acronym!
Must be. I guess it's a matter of how I've heard it used being different.
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Decimate in my opinion is the most inaccurately used word. The word is derived from the latin for 10. It literally means one in ten or 10 percent, but as it's commonly used as meaning to completely destroy. the correct word in most cases should be devastate.
"Destroy" is literally the definition of decimate.
dec·i·mate
verb
verb: decimate; 3rd person present: decimates; past tense: decimated; past participle: decimated; gerund or present participle: decimating
- 1.
kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of.
"the project would decimate the fragile wetland wilderness"- drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something).
"plant viruses that can decimate yields"
- drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something).
- 2.
HISTORICAL
kill one in every ten of (a group of soldiers or others) as a punishment for the whole group.
"the man who is to determine whether it be necessary to decimate a large body of mutineers"
"Decimate" meaning "destroy" is sometimes considered proscribed, but I don't see how this word would've caught on in English without a more general meaning than "reduce by 1/10th". How often do you really reduce something by 1/10th?
Though apparently an old meaning of the word was "to exact a 10% tithe".
Though apparently an old meaning of the word was "to exact a 10% tithe".
The specific context and meaning of "decimate", historically, - as @mollyc has correctly pointed out - is not just "reduce by a tenth", but "reduce by a tenth by choosing to kill, killing - actually, executing in public - one tenth of a particular military unit", in other words, it is to violently reduce something by a tenth.
And, the sense of destruction this verb conveys is further reinforced when you realise that - historically - this killing, this decision to slaughter one tenth of the military unit in question - was a decision taken (and implemented) by the commander of your own troops.
I am "literally", "super excited" that you have "reached out" to "ourselves" and I am "totally" going to work with "yourself" "literally" gets the answer you were looking for.....
When I first began texting and using chat, I made it a point NOT to use "LOL" unless I was really laughing at something. Now, it's so overused (I see people use it multiple times in a sentence even when it doesn't make sense) that it's just become an annoyance.
This isn't one that annoys me, but it is kind of funny to think about: we use the term "unicorn" to refer to a start-up that turns out to be incredibly lucrative, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an investor. Yet unicorns don't actually exist (don't tell my niece). So it's interesting to use a term for something that is pure fantasy to refer to something real, but rare (and maybe more poignant now given the way that some tech "unicorns" do, in fact, end up being all fantasy, no substance).
Don't tell that to the people of Scotland.
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When people say (in a text) "your welcome" instead of "you're welcome." Sometimes I just don't get it... and they're fluent English speakers. Also, I've seen other people say "there" when they really mean to say "they're." I'm not trying to insult anyone, just trying to make a point.
You know what's even worse? When someone says that out loud
Auto-correct sometimes does crap like that, unfortunately. Especially if it's in a longer sentence.
I don't get it, either.
Careless, casual, ignorant, or indifferent, writing. Ugh.
A passionate and profound amen to this.
Actually, I remember an older teacher in primary school - her voice, deep, resonant, experienced, commanding - I learned years later that she had had an outstanding academic record as a young woman - is still in my mind and memory - we must have been around six or, perhaps, seven years old - drilling us (by way of endless written sentences - including ones we had to make up ourselves in order to prove that we understood, had mastered and could effortlessly apply these words accurately when and where necessary) - in the precise and exact differences between "there", "their" and "they're".
Some sentences we were asked to write - compose - were to include all three words.
I've never forgotten that lesson.
I try not to judge people's spelling in texts. I am horrible at typing on a phone, and ever since I got a new phone a few months ago, auto-correct hates me, because it lost the previous four years worth of learning. My phone consistently autocorrects things like "well" to "we'll" even when it doesn’t make sense. And since you can't go back and edit a text, my spelling looks much worse than it actually is, even when I type it correctly in the first place!
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Always proofread before sending if important! Failing to do so can result in some embarrassing misunderstandings. Btw, I've noticed that the iPhone's dictation feature lately has been adding random commas into the text for no logical reason.
Sure, but I don't generally consider texts to friends as "important."
Which is why I try not to judge people who misspell in texts. Texts are casual, around the fireside conversations, not business diatribes. Context matters.