Word Spy - dirty-white-collar

(DUR.tee-wyt-kaw.lur) adj. Relating to a corrupt, seedy, or criminal businessperson.

Example Citation:

David Ebert, a Rancho Santa Fe water district executive, committed the same crime Longanbach did. He commandeered the services of underlings for his own benefit (ordering secretaries to do homework assignments, run personal errands, and so on)...

Now in dirty-white-collar cases like these, two charges naturally arise: misuse of public funds and grand theft. They're the two sides of the same stolen coin.
—Logan Jenkins, "Slap on wrist seems par for the course in Longanbach saga," The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 2, 2002

Earliest Citation:

Best performances come from Elizabeth R. Reedy as the permanently dislocated Sara Jane Moore (who hardly sings) and Daniel J. Chiavroli as Sam Byck, who tried to steal a plane and drop it on Nixon's White House, and whose monologues are worthy of David Mamet's dirty-white-collar hustlers.
—John Flautz, "KSC troupe does 'Assassins' proud," The Morning Call (Allentown), April 23, 1994

Possible Earlier Citation #1:

Using her mind and her wits — and once in a while her Smith & Wesson — she has cleaned up a lot of fraud, pollution and dirty white-collar criminals lurking around Chicago and environs.
—Patricia Ryan, "Mystery writer creates sister in crime," Houston Chronicle, July 26, 1991

Possible Earlier Citation #2:

The story is based on a book by C. S. Forester, and is set among the dirty white collar workers of London in the twenties. In this case they work for the Universal Advertising Agency, a Dickensian sort of operation that has about it the smell of cheap cigarets and stale egg sandwiches.
—Donn Downey, "Plain Murder is nothing like Agatha Christie," The Globe and Mail, February 11, 1980

Notes:

For many years we've been dividing the workforce into two general camps: the white-collar worker (1921), which refers to business types, and the blue-collar worker (1950), which refers to manual laborers and factory workers. These are familiar terms, but you might be surprised to know that there are now lots of other collars out there. Here are some examples that have appeared in the media:

Gray-collar workers (1981): Skilled technicians; employees whose job descriptions combine some white- and some blue-collar duties.
Black-collar workers (1998): Miners (especially coal miners) and oil workers.
Pink-collar workers (1975): Secretaries and other clerical staff.
Green-collar workers (1984): Environmentalists.
Gold-collar workers (1985): Professionals or those with in-demand skills; employees over 55.
Scarlet-collar workers (2000):Female pohr.noh.GRAF.ik shop operators. (I've use the pronunciation of the p-word here to avoid getting this post trapped in anti-p-word filters.)
Dog-collar workers (1991): Priests.
Open-collar workers (1988): People who work at home.
Frayed-collar workers (1995): Workers having trouble making ends meet; the working poor.
Steel-collar workers (1980): Robots.

Categories:

Business (General)
Crime

Posted on November 22, 2002