-gate [Re: Random Note for 2014 WOTY: #2]

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 10, 2014, at 11:28 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> News media are communicating to people who often are not paying full
> attention. The -gate suffix creates a single word describing a scandal.

--scandal *and* (attempted) coverup; without the coverup, or attempt at one, there's no -gate (I says)

LH

> When you hear it, or even half hear it, you know what is being talked or
> written about. It leads to efficient communication. Aesthetically one may
> hate it, but it is hard to argue with its effectiveness.
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 11:17 AM, Christopher Philippo <toff at mac.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Christopher Philippo <toff at MAC.COM>
>> Subject:      -gate [Re: Random Note for 2014 WOTY: #2]
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 1/10/2014 09:15 AM, David Barnhart wrote: “Spotted on the NPR news
>> site: bridgegate”
>>
>> Why do people who work in the so-called “news” business do that?  What
>> does it add or accomplish?
>>
>> “The -GATE construction' - Barry from Pinckney, Mich. says he is tired of
>> hearing of all of the -gate words being created in Washington, D.C. and
>> elsewhere. Examples include: Monica-gate, Zipper-gate, Campaign-gate,
>> File-gate, ad nauseam. Canadians had Pepper-gate.' (Sent via cellular phone
>> through David Newman's Show on WJR in Detroit.). ‘We have long since
>> achieved over-use-gate,’ says Michele Utterson of Drummond Island."
>> “Banished Words 1999.” Lake Superior State University.
>> http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archive/1999.php
>>
>> Christopher K. Philippo
>>
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>>
>
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