Tag Archives: Monday Edition

Word of the Week: Decimate Monday Edition!

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Decimate.
Decimate is a VERY misused word. You hear people talk about how they decimated the competition.
“My strategy decimated his forces”.
Hearing this, you would assume that they destroyed most of the opponents forces. Well, you would be WRONG.

We use decimate as if it means to destroy most of something, but it actually means to destroy 1 tenth of something. That means the sentence says the same thing as:
“My strategy destroyed 10% of his forces.”

Now, this doesn’t mean that if you use decimate wrong people won’t understand you, it just means it’s commonly misused.

Did you enjoy this week’s Word of the Week? Why don’t you suggest next week’s word?

Word of the Week: Monday Edition! Spaghettification

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     Welcome again to the Word of the Week! This time, Monday Edition!

     Today we’re going to talk about spaghettification. What is spaghettification? Is spaghettification the act of turning something into spaghetti? Will spaghettification involve turning things into spaghetti like pieces? Do I like to say spaghettification?

     No, yes, and a huge definitely.

     When you stand on Earth, gravity is pulling you down. The top of your head is affected by slightly less gravity than your feet. That is because your head is farther from Earth than your feet. The difference in gravity is miniscule. You’ll never notice it.

Now, if you’re falling into a black hole, that’s a different story. A black hole’s gravity is so great that if you were to fall into it feet first, it would get uncomfortable quick. As you fall in, feet first, the gravity difference between your head and feet would become enormous! Your body would begin to stretch, and stretch, and stretch, until you are just a line of atoms.

Here’s a really good video to explain other things about black holes. (including spaghettification):

Spaghettification!