I've been writing and doing public relations for a long time and with that comes a great respect for the power of carefully chosen language as well as a very good BS detector.
I have heard it said more than once since the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster began over a month ago that "spill" is not the right word to describe what was happening.
Spill can mean a lot of things, but the correct definition goes something like, "To cause or allow (a substance) to run or fall out of a container."
That doesn't describe what is happening in the Gulf, as there is no container from which the oil is spilling. Unless the massive underground natural reservoir of oil sitting 20,000 feet below the ocean's surface is considered a container - which would also be incorrect as well because a container by definition is, "a receptacle, such as a carton, can, or jar, in which material is held or carried."
But my point isn't as much that we should all get a slap on the hand from our third-grade English teacher for using incorrect words (even though as writers we should always strive to use language correctly).
My point is that it is quite a coup for BP to have such a massive disaster on its hands to be described as a "spill" - a word that implies accidental and minor in scale. "Oops I spilled my milk" comes to most people's mind.
I doubt it was an intentional piece of spindoctoring by BP, but they sure as heck haven't pointed out that the term "spill" is not only a technically incorrect, and massively understates the grand scale of the situation the company is dealing with.
So from this point forward, in all my writing on the oil spill, which sadly looks like it will be a daily task for at least the entire summer, I will no longer describe the Gulf of Mexico disaster as a "spill."
At the least, I will sleep better knowing I am not making my English teachers unhappy and at best I will be properly communicating the level of devastation and the seriousness of the situation.
Problem is, what should it be described as? The Gulf of Mexico tragedy? The Gulf disaster? The oily nightmare in the Gulf? The BP Disaster? The giant blob from hell that wouldn't have happened if we had offshore wind farms instead of offshore oil rigs?
What do you think is the perfect phrase or word that describes the Gulf of Mexico disaster correctly?
Follow Kevin Grandia on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kgrandia
BP Disaster
I think the name BP has to remain part of the term.
Stacy Clark
Dallas, TX
The Gulf of Mexico disaster is on a whole other level.
Stacy Clark, Dallas, TX
Stacy Clark
Dallas, TX
oceancide, or oceanslaughter, depending upon how much forethought you think went into BP's actions.
Side question: Someone told me that there was more oil dumped into the ocean during the Gulf War and when I look at the wikipedia entry for world oil spills I see that is the case, but I don't know the details. I would like to write about this, because I have heard Sean Hannity and Limbaugh using it as a way of minimizing the size of the Gulf disaster.
Anyone?
You may already know of Polly Higgins, the UK lawyer who is urging the UN to acknowledge Ecocide as a crime against humanity, just like genocide. You can follow Polly on twitter and on any of her blogs. One is called The Lazy Environmentalist.
In the absense of legislative action on the pricing of carbon, some version of Higgins' Ecocide law here in the US may help protect our oceans, our land, and our our air and water quality. I think the ravaging of ancient forests for nothing more than the pulp required to manufacture magazines and junk mail is the same kind of kind of reckless corporate irresponsibilty that requires a severe responce. And so many other examples exist.
BP has slaughtered an entire ecosystem and has put at risk many others connected to it. It's undermined an already fragile economy, placed the health of coastal residents at risk, and now they are playing lawyer games, denying what they've done. They are plotting a defense before they've even admitted to the full extent of the problem. They are, as Mike Papantonio said on Hardball tonight, a "pathological corporation."
We need regulatory remedies to deal with hardened industrialists who care not at all for the resources they mine. But such laws are irrelevant until we have leaders who are willing to take action in swift and decisive ways.
Maybe the words Oceancide and Ecocide would get their attention!
Thanks, Maurice!
Stacy Clark