Misuse of "epicenter"

If I read one more article where they say “epicenter” when they really mean “center” but want to sound pompous, I am going to scream.

I’m gonna scream the next time someone says that something was “decimated” when they mean “destroyed”. If something’s been decimated, only one tenth of it was destroyed. Argh!

I’ve heard just about enough mention of the Pommeranian artifacts discovered under the lava. Woof.

Some ignorance has been stamped out. Mine. I always thought “decimated” meant “reduced to a tenth of its original size/population” and I was about to correct you. A quick trip to my chosen citable source overturned that initiative. Can I blame my misconstrual on other folks’ misuse?

Heck, being decimated is nowhere near as bad as I thought! :slight_smile:

I heard the epicenter blunder on CSI the other night.

These people, while not scientists, strictly speaking, are supposed to have had at least some exposure to science, and to use it in their work.

This is the sort of thing that has taken every bit of enamel off my teeth.

I guess using the word ‘center’ implies you have a hopelessly twentieth-century mind.

The use of “penultimate” to mean final. Argh.

“Serial” criminals are taking over. “Serial murders” made sense (to distinguish from “mass murderers”). “Serial rapists” less so. Then “serial bank robbers” and now even “serial robbers”. Whatever happened to just old “robber”? Can you really do multiple bank robberies at the same time?

“utilize” when “use” will do just fine. Pardon me while I “utilize” this chainsaw on your ass!