Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds?
Bear with me.
The word originates from the military punishment used by the Roman army, whereby every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his cohort.
By extension we can say that your investment portfolio is “decimated” every time it drops 10%.
But that sounds dramatic.
And, given that we can expect a 10% drop (and full recovery) every year, would likely lead to a severe case of the investment heebie-jeebies if we talked in terms of “investment decimation”.
That’s why we call it a correction – which sounds much more pleasant doesn’t it?
We are due one.