[ThanhPhero]

they were decimated

They were NOT DECIMATED! far more than 10% of them were carried off by the new diseases. Decimation is the destruction or killing of ten per cent. That is ten out of a hundred. Ninety remain. The Reds practiced decimation back in their Civil War in Russia on units that failed an objective or retreated. An offending unit was formed up, counted off, and every tenth man was shot.

[IronJack]

No. Decimation is NOT the elimination of 10 percent. That's the ORIGIN of the word, but it has expanded beyond its orginal meaning. I can be as much a language purist as anyone, but in this case, it's a lost cause. Nowadays, and for a considerable period of time, "decimation" has come to mean "great destruction" or "marked reduction in numbers." Only vestigially does it mean "a reduction by 1 in 10."

Now don't get me started on "medium/media" ...