Why "-gate" at the End of Scandals?

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I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Watergate Scandal.

For you youngins out there who don't feel like clicking the link, the short story of Watergate is that a group of people who worked on President Richard Nixon's staff, broke into the Democratic National Committee's Headquarters, which was located in the Watergate building (hence the name of the scandal - although I do not know why the building is called "Watergate" - it's basically just a big office complex). The break-in occured with Nixon's knowledge and apparrent authority, which when it was found out, lead to his resignation.

So now, it seems that we put "gate" at the end of every scandal of every type, and that's just dumb. I mean, if the scandal actually involved breaking into something, I could see it, but things of minor significance get the -gate added to the end for no apparent reason. It's even extended beyond the realm of politics. In 2007, when the Patriots got caught stealing signals from the other team, it was called "Spygate".

I guess the thing that bothers me, is that it elevates (or at least indirectly compares) a matter of relative minor importance, to one of the biggest scandals in world history. Watergate was the event that lead to the only President in the history of the US resigning from office. That's pretty big. Taping some football signals is, by comparison, rather small.

Is it just me that finds the "gating" of everything to be pretty dumb?

 

It's a pet hate of mine. It's silly unless there's some kind of connectin, which there never is.

 

No, it's not just you. I remember having a good laugh at "Monicagate" back in the day. Yes, Clinton lied, but lying about who you slept with and spying on your opponents to win the elction are not exactly the same level of scandal as far as I'm concerned. Then again considering how big the Monicagate issue (I have a hard time calling it a scandal) became, maybe there's your answer. The "gating" isn't just a matter of adding the suffix to whatever the news du jour is, but rather the taking of a scandal-unworthy matter (I didn't know about "Spygate" but it's a pretty good example) and trying to turn it into this huge scandal. Maybe some of the media are desperate for something to write/talk about on very slow days.

 

I would argue that the Watergate scandal was big -- really big. It entered the public conscience in a way that was not previously experienced and, IMHO has yet to be equalled. One of the factors was the preponderance of the media. Television had been around for years, of course, and radio even longer, and of course newspapers and magazines for centuries longer, but by the 70s the media had (IMHO) really started to gain momentum and force. The population had grown and the number of people with access to televisions in their homes had also skyrocketed. The intense, "round the clock" coverage of issues was becoming more popular and more accepted. This saturation really impressed the issue into the American -- scratch that, the Western world's -- mindset. So pivotal was the event in terms of both media coverage and political impact that the custom of naming any scandal a "something"- gate entered the cultural lexicon of the world.

 

Yep, it seems pretty ridiculous to me as well. It's just the media trying to give a "trendy" name to something, but ending up looking lame instead. Just like that annoying habit they have of combining Hollywood couples' names - Brangelina, Beniffer, etc. Barf.

Wow, that is stupid.

(As an aside, the timing of this thread is kinda coincidental given my post the other day on the Dog-gate scandal (although I didn't actually call it that) in the Obama thread )

 

Of course he did! I mean, what married man when confronted with the possibility of having an affair wouldn't try to lie his way out of it? (OK, there are probably some, but I'm betting something on the order of 95% of men would lie in that situation. If you're willing to cheat on your wife, I could hardly believe that you are too scupulous to tell a lie.)

Anyway, Monicagate is an excellent example, in that we got two gates out of it, as I've also heard it called Lewinskygate.

Oh, I hate that as well. Although I think I dislike the gates more because there are so many more of them. There's also TomKat, but I cannot think of any others off the top of my head...

And you would be correct in that assumption.

 

I have a dog gate -- it works well and I don't have to let her out, she gets out and does her business in the back yard on her own.

 

My money would be on Billygate.

 

or microgate ... wait, isn't that Melinda's pet name for him?

 

In Holland, sparrows are protected, becuse they're starting to become endangered. There was a show where they were going to topple millions of dominos, but a sparrow got trapped in the building. They shot the sparrow dead, to prevent it from toppling the dominos. It provoked outrage from the public.

It became known as 'musgate' (sparrow-gate). really lame.

 

The reason is simple. The media is filled with unimaginative clods who couldn't come up with a new name if there were a republican werewolf breathing down their necks! All in all, it makes it really surprising some of the BS they throw on the news. I mean, you'd think someone who is completely uncreative would have trouble coming up with lies and such, wouldn't you?

 

WindowsGate? Oh no wait, we already have that, it's called Vista.

 

Bill Gates... wasn't that about the Bill Clinton scandal?

 

I remember thinking when I was a kid, wait the president did what at what hotel? Because I heard of Watergate, but only knew it was a hotel's name so I assumed all -gate words were hotels too.

 

We put the word "gate" on the end of something scandalous for the same reason Apple puts the litter "i" on every piece of crap they make - it sells!

 

Best explanation of the phenomenon so far. Excellent parallel too

Just wait until Windows 7 comes out

 

It's been going on forever, just think of the Pearly Gates.

 

It doesn't even have to be a political event for something to be "gated"... Nipplegate anyone? I hate it when people name things like that!