[Ads-l] Sharpie-gate

[David K. Barnhart]

Sharpie-gate or Sharpiegate, n. {w}  Also written Sharpie gate.  a scandal
associated with a weather map that was marked up to suggest that hurrican
Dorian was heading toward Alabama.  Nonstandard (used in slang contexts
dealing especially with presidential politics)

 

The Sharpie-gate saga appears to have begun Sunday with - like so many
controversies in the Trump White House - a post from the president on
Twitter. ...

Trump also defended his Twitter forecasting earlier in the week, decrying a
report from ABC News White House correspondent Jon Karl and claiming that
"under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could
have received some 'hurt.'"

In response to Sharpie-gate blowing up on social media Wednesday, the Trump
campaign's rapid-response team pointed to a Facebook post Thursday by the
National Weather Service in Birmingham, warning that "it is too soon to say
with much confidence if (or how much) Dorian" would impact the state.

But the modification took off, making Sharpie and Sharpiegate trend on
Twitter, with users sharing their own Sharpie'd takes on the Trump
presidency.  Cairtlin Oprysko, "An Oval Office mystery: Who doctored the
hurricane map?"  Politico (Google), Sept. 4, 2019, 

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/04/donald-trump-sharpie-hurricane-map
-1481733

 

Composite (compound): formed from Sharpie (USPTO: 1964, first use), meaning
"a pen for making bold mark as on a chart or map," + -gate (BDNE3: 1973),
meaning "scandal," as in Interngate (DC: 1998), [ultimately from Watergate
(BDNE3: 1973)].  See the etymology at Spitzergate.

 

 

This is now entered as a preliminary entry for Barnhart's Never-finished
Political Dictionary of the 21st Century-Second Edition, which is being
prepared for the printer.

 

Regards to all as the primary season heats up.

 

David K. Barnhart

Barnhart at highlands.com


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