We really need to give up on decimation. Even if the word hadn't acquired its modern usage, just think: no army these days ever kills one-tenth of its own soldiers. The word would retain some mystical, arcane, redundant meaning only and would probably die away. But we've hung on to it by giving it a meaning beyond its literal past. I think that's really good meself. Now excuse me as I'm just off into the kitchen to decimate that leftover slab of lasagne...

Good word!