An excerpt from a book blurb:
"The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed—and more than half of the world’s population was decimated."
sigh "half of the world's population was decimated."
Look, I know it's meaning has shifted but combining it with "half" just makes the disconnect between informal and official definition more jarring.
And sure, losing 5% of the total world population would be a terrible event in human history but it's probably not nearly as bad as the blurb's author wanted it to be.
Needless to say, I won't be reading this book (I mean, the blurb wasn't great even outside the bad math).
Wait... 5%? Wouldn't decimate mean 1-in-10? Or 10%? ;-P
ReplyDeleteShazza Gilbert Yes, but half the population was decimated so 10% of 50% is 5% of the total population.
ReplyDeletePedant. :-)
ReplyDeleteit stuck out to me too... but, i wouldn't hold it against the book... publishers write the crud on the cover, not necessarily the author.....
ReplyDelete