For more than two months, we've tracked news and developments of the Gulf oil spill. But is it technically a "spill?" The broken pipe is spilling (or gushing, or spewing, or leaking) as many as 30,000 to 60,000 gallons of oil a day. Is it time for some new terminology? What would you call the oil spill, and why?
Ben Zimmer joins us; he writes the On Language column for The New York Times. People are passionate about the language we're using to define the oil catastrophe (from "oil-apocalypse" to "runaway oil"). Zimmer says that we're searching for a term that helps embody the magnitude of the Gulf spill. He looks at historical connotations behind some of the words in use like "gusher" and "rupture," as well as at the language that was used to describe the Ixtoc blowout in the Gulf of Mexico 20 years ago to see if it can help put these words in perspective.
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Comments [24]
"Oilastophy" or "oilblob."
See related issue at www.manumission1.vox.com.
gulf war in 'da hood.
gulf war numero dos
gaia strikes back
revenge of planet earth
chenny spills his bile [haliburton honey]
How about Corporate Diarrhea?
Acute crude emesis
"The Black Death", considering the color of the oil and since it's like a plague to the region
How about 'Godzilla in the Gulf'. It's dark, it comes from the deep and murky prehistory of our planet etc. etc. It's horrible!
BP would call it a "trickle," or a "leak," as I'm sure their attorneys will in the inevitable lawsuits seeking to hold them liable for the damage and injury they have caused.
Don't call it a spill, because that sounds small. Don't call it an "accident," either, because that term has a legal definition arising from liability insurance policies. "Accident" usually means something not intended from the standpoint of the insured. But if the person (or corporation) acted with recklessness in such a way that made it likely this would occur, that's not really an "accident." If somebody drives drunk and hits someone, it's an "accident" in the sense that they did not intend to hit the other person. But by getting in a car drunk, they acted in reckless disregard of the likelihood they would hit someone, so it's not really an "accident."
We should call it an "explosion" of oil, or the "gushing" oil. We could using the word "raging," too, as in "the raging explosion of oil," or "the oil gushing into the Gulf in a raging manner."
Man-Made Disaster
My vote goes to Gusher. Spill implies a finate amount of oil was spilled. We dont know how much oil has gushed out of the ocean floor, and we dont know when it will stop. Its not a spill.
Its not a natural disaster either. In this regard, I'd call it criminal corporate environmental disaster. That's what it is, and that's where the facts are going to go...
How about "oilcano"?
Blow Out Preventer....Not! So we should call it a: "B.O.P Not"
It should be reffered to as an "Industrial Disaster", there's nothing "Natural" about it!
"Rhage" (Greek: violent, uncontrolled burst)
(BP) "Oil Monster"
I will call it "Fatal Spew" or "Eco-Tragedy"
A nice, one-syllable, armageddon-ish sounding word: spew
For a short word, how about creating a new use of the word "spew" as in "the gulf oil spew"? With regard to words already in use, why not oil disaster or fiasco?
"And up from the ground come a bubblin' crude"
Can we call it Texas Tea? Black Gold?
3 miles down. All that pressure - we've poke a tightly squeezed water balloon with a pin. Oil gushes even above sea level, doesn't it? I'm no Halliburton geologist or nothing.
If I had to give a name to the cause of the oil spill in the Gulf I would have to go with
Diabolic Fountain
How about "BP Corporate Synergy"?
This is BP's wretched mass of oozing sludge.
I call it a corporate disaster on my blog site. It is not a spill because the oil was not accidentally tipped over. This is the result of corporations not taking the time to use precaution and having a plan to implement immediately in case the operation went wrong.
Instead of calling it the oil spill we should call it the Fountain of Spoil.
The "spill" seems more like an oil hemorrhage to me as it reminds me of uncontrollable and fatal bleeding.
I've always thought of it as the Gusher in the Gulf. If I was in the news media that's what I would call it. I assumed BP's PR came up with the brilliant choice of "The Spill"
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