Fact: adding the suffic “-gate” to any other word(s), to denote political scandal does not make you clever.
This has been bothering me for some time. I think “Climategate” was the last straw, so-to-speak.
The namesake scandal, of course, is the Watergate incident during Nixon’s reign as president. Watergate was the name of the office park where the incident principally occurred, or at least where some participants were caught. “-Gate” as a suffice, appended to every noteworthy incident since then, is totally superfluous and devoid of any etymological meaning, except the colloquial association with the Watergate incident.
It’s like a bad joke that you have to keep explaining. If you have to explain why it’s funny, it’s not funny.
Lewinksygate: fail. Climategate: fail. Whitewatergate: OK, this one is sort of clever.
But none of the rest of them, and the list is very long.
Please stop repeating this inanity. You sound dumb when you say it and you look dumb when you write it.