Re: Limits of pragmatism
I know the popular (incorrect) usage of the word is recorded as such in some inferior dictionaries, but if you want to use a word to describe the greater portion of something being destroyed, there's a perfectly good word for that, it even starts with a 'd' , 'devastate'.
I presume when people say 'decimate' they mean 'devastate' and this is how the modern misuse came about.