I hate to be all linguistically anal, but the mess in the Gulf isn't a "spill"...it is a leak, or

[Mother Smuckers]

discharge, or gush or ooze...or maybe some other thing but to me it's not a spill which is
normally material exiting from a vessel and travelling 'downward', not emanating upwards from the bottom of something.


:shrug:

I will go to my room now. ;-)

[tekisui]

1. You are right. A spill is finite. A leak is indefinite and on going.

[Mother Smuckers]

4. Yes, thank you! You added the important element...we have no idea how much MORE will come out.

Not that it gives me any pleasure to know that...:cry:

[MadMaddie]

2. It's an "Open spikkot" that will not be closed for a long time.

[Codeine]

9. Another bit of being linguistically anal;

"spigot." Spelled and pronounced with a "g". No hard "k" sound in spigot.

Sorry, huge pet peeve of mine.

[MadMaddie]

11. No worries...I knew the spelling...just ...kind of the mood I am

[Codeine]

12. My bad.

:hi:

[BlooInBloo]

3. A spill from the finite amount in the earthly container!

:P

[northernlights]

5. you're right, of course

I know I've, in my rage, referred to it repeatedly as a spill. In fact, it's gushing oil.

Mostly, it's a travesty.

[stray cat]

6. Oil bubbles up naturally from the ocean floor - proof that just because something is natural

its not good.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2009) — About half of the oil in the ocean bubbles up naturally from the seafloor, with Earth giving it up freely like it was of no value. Likewise, NASA satellites collect thousands of images and 1.5 terrabytes of data every year, but some of it gets passed over because no one thinks there is a use for it.

[Turbineguy]

7. I can hear Micelle Bachmann now....

"Oil spills are natural!"

[Touchdown]

8. Whatever you call it, it seems to be all Apple's and Steve Jobs' fault!

Judging by the 12 Smear the Queer type threads on Apple/Jobs/Mac users in the last week...

[ThomWV]

10. True that, but I believe the term is a carryover from land-bound derrick disasters of years past

Old oil wells spilt oil often, and so I think the term 'oil spill' has just carried over from those days. I've seen old film clips that showed small rivers of oil blowing out of wells in Texas with no one much concerned about either the environment or capturing the 'black gold', which at that time had very little value.

[uncle ray]

13. so, you're an anal linguist, huh?

interesting.