[Ads-l] beachgate?

[David K. Barnhart]

There are over 30 terms built in part with _-gate_ as a suffix for
scandalous behavior by politicians in Barnhart's Never-finished Political
Dictionary of the 21st Century_ (Lexik House: 2016).  One of the newest
proposed entries will be something like the following ..

 

 

beachgate, n. {w}  Also written BeachGate or Beachgate.  the use by Governor
Christie of a New Jersey beach which had been closed to the public, viewed
as a scandal.  Compare Bridgegate and Christiegate.  Standard (used in
informal contexts dealing especially with New Jersey state politics;
frequency?)

 

BeachGate has gone viral.

The image of Chris Christie sunbathing on a shuttered Jersey beach fast
became an instant meme, as Twitter users on Monday inserted the lounging GOP
governor into new scenes. Ruth Brown, "Everybody pastes Chris," The New York
Post (Nexis), July 4, 2017, p 4 

 

It was as if New Jersey hadn't announced on Friday that all nonessential
state services such as parks, beaches, and motor vehicle offices would be
closed over the holiday weekend.

But here's what makes it Beachgate.  The beach was closed to us but not to
his friends and family.

What gall. It was a low-down thing to do.  Jenice Armstrong, "Gov. Christie
gave us the middle finger with his beach move," The Philadelphia Inquirer
(Nexis), July 4, 2017, p WEB

 

Composite (compound): formed from beach (eOED: 1600), as in
beach-sploitation (ANW 81.4: 2005), + -gate (BDNE3: 1973), as in Interngate
(DC: 1998), [ultimately from Watergate (BDNE3: 1973)].  

 

 

                        QUESTION: 1.) what is your prediction?  Is this a
keeper or not?

                                                2.) How much more evidence
would you like to see?


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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org