Word: onassisism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Onassis is not very imaginative: last August he reportedly gave Jackie a silver-filigree bracelet stamped J.I.L.Y. (for "Jackie I Love You"), just as he once gave an M.I.L.Y. bracelet to Maria and a T.I.L.Y. bracelet to Tina. He is no clotheshorse. His baggy suits ("Made in London while he...
Though largely self-educated, Onassis is well-read in classical Greek history and speaks six languages: Greek, Turkish, English, Spanish, French, Italian. A night person and an insomniac, he is a hypnotic raconteur and used to fascinate guests at dinner parties in Hyannisport with his recollections of Winston Churchill. Friends...
For all his wanderings, Onassis is only a superficial sophisticate. His humor has a peasant strain. One of his favorite jokes describes "the noisiest thing in the world?two skeletons making love on a tin roof." A hardheaded Scotch drinker (only at night), he has smashed upwards of $700 worth...
Onassis' canny business dealings have helped fuel such sentiments. In 1952, he alienated his friend Prince Rainier of Monaco by quietly buying up a majority interest in the Société des Bains de Mer, which runs the Monte Carlo Casino. His reason: he had been snubbed in his search for...
Earlier in the 1950s, Onassis became intrigued with whaling, ran a 20-ship fleet. When his vessels invaded the territorial whaling waters of Peru, the Peruvian navy confiscated his flagship only to discover that, thanks to a Lloyd's insurance policy, Onassis was not losing a penny. Divining correctly that...