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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Dan and Larry are both correct.

 JL




On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 12:16 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: -gate [Re: Random Note for 2014 WOTY: #2]
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
> >
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> >> -----------------------
> >> 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]
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >> 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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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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