Hi,
Yes, I know. I took journalism in high school and worked on the school paper. As a photographer, but I still had to turn in the occasional article. Given that 'exterminate' and 'decimate' are both complex Latinate words, either would be red penciled and replaced with 'wiped out' (as you suggest below).
Thus making it even more appropriate in this context. The plague was intentionally started as an act of war. It was, indeed, an intentional extermination.
--Pete
(05-22-2010, 07:57 AM)LennyLen Wrote: Writers do also have to take their target audience into account (I often had to dumb things down when I was writing for community newspapers). Though in this case, I think you're probably correct in assuming the writer just did a bad job.
Yes, I know. I took journalism in high school and worked on the school paper. As a photographer, but I still had to turn in the occasional article. Given that 'exterminate' and 'decimate' are both complex Latinate words, either would be red penciled and replaced with 'wiped out' (as you suggest below).
Quote:I don't really think exterminate would have been better however. It has too many connotations of being a deliberate act . . .
Thus making it even more appropriate in this context. The plague was intentionally started as an act of war. It was, indeed, an intentional extermination.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?