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TOKYO - A global battery recall and red ink in its video-game business decimated Sony's profits in the most recent quarter, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said Thursday.
Sony Corp's group net profit for the July-September quarter fell 94 percent to 1.7 billion yen ($14 million), from 28.5 billion yen the same period the previous year, the Tokyo-based manufacturer said
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061026/ap_ ... japan_sony
The article says that the profits we "decimated" and then later says they fell by 94%. The actual original meaning of the term decimated is to reduce something by 1/10th. So this would be a correct use of the word if profits had been reduced by ~10%, as opposed to 94%.
Now in modern day, it has become acceptable practice to use the term decimate for any situation where there is a great loss, usually in the area of 90%. Talk about really screwing up the meaning of a word!!!