2. A person who wastes paper. This epithet should be
interpreted in a broad sense; "wasting paper" includes the
production of spiffy but content-free documents. Thus,
most suits are tree-killers.
This term may derive from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the
Rings".
in which Treebeard the Ent uses it to refer to the orcs'
master, Saruman of Isengard. Saruman represents, among other
things, technology at its most misguided.
See also: dead tree.
[Jargon File]
(1999-11-03)
Nearby terms:
traverse « trawl « tree « tree-killer » TREET » TREETRAN » Tree Transformation Language