Argument for legalizing the adult use of cannabis was to stop the harm caused by disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in Black, Latino and other minority communities.

  • littleblue✨@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Thank fuck they didn’t use “decimate” like a dumbass. 🤘🏽

    edit: The whingy downvotes here only underline the issue of confident illiteracy, vernacular morphology be damned. Just because some lazy fuck barely remembered the feel/sound/look of “devastate” and settled for the wrong word, doesn’t mean you have jump off the bridge too, kiddo. Read a damn book.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      To “decimate” means “to destroy 10%.” I agree with you that “decimate” would be inaccurate, in the sense that the destruction wrought by the drug war easily exceeded 10%.

      • mPony@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        people have been using “decimate” to mean “to remove 90% and leave only 10% remaining.” When I was younger I was surprised to learn it didn’t mean that.

        We already have a different word to indicate “to remove 10%” : tithe.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          That might be your tithe, other places, groups, and organizations have different levels of tithe. Decimate has been to destroy 10 percent since the Romans used the word and killed every tenth man in a legion as punishment. This is not a new thing.