Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A person who
acquires asubstantial amount ofmoney by beingpaid toparticipate in thecleanup of anoil spill .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Coast in the past month, takes issue with the term "spillionaire" -- those who are cleaning up from the oil cleanup.
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"The 'spillionaire' term, which originated with the Exxon Valdez spill, was more geared towards the instant expert and instant contractor that capitalized on that event and really didn't come with the real structure and capability and experience."
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The term "spillionaire" was coined in 1989 to describe profiteers who benefited from cleaning up the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill off the Alaskan coast, and it's being used again today to describe those finding the BP crisis lucrative.
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spillionaire: Person made rich by money from BP's spill cleanup fund.
chained_bear commented on the word spillionaire
"Some Cordova fishermen became 'spill-ionaires,' renting themselves and their fishing boats to Exxon during the cleanup."
—Peter Jenkins, Looking for Alaska (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001), 139
May 28, 2009
seanahan commented on the word spillionaire
I'm not too wild about this one, it seems unlikely that they made a million dollars.
May 30, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word spillionaire
I don't think it's literal. The idea is that some individuals were able to make a living from the cleanup, rather than from fishing, which is their normal livelihood, and which they could not do as a result of the spill.
May 31, 2009