Just Stop It

[weecalf]

Why are all scandals called gate this ,gate that .I know its after watergate The only scandal that inolve a gate is the current pleb wan .It hinges on what was said or not said .A sorta open and shut case then .

[sunny-dave]

It should really have been called Gategate ...

[mazie]

LOL x

[jno]

because gate means scandal. You say gate, you don't have to say scandal.

[jake-the-peg]

Well it hinges on police officers lying about what a minister said at the gate and then lying about what was said at a later meeting and then misleading parliament about that case.

Perhaps When-you're-in-a-hole-stop-digging-Gate

[weecalf]

So it aint after waters then?

[mikey4444]

I think we should stop using the gate suffix and start instead to call this current affair by a more accurate descriptive title...The Saga of the Lying Policemen.

[Peter Pedant]

aaarrr tez linguistic weecalf

It IS after waters - as you so fluidly put it.....

One has units of language (spoken and written) called morphemes ( phonemes and graphemes) and one bit is the thing you can stick on words. Front of the word sequel and pre-quel are affixes - or prefix. and I call those at the end of a word postfix. Other people call them different thing [suffixes].

Oh dear it looks like -fix is a morpheme as well as pre- and post-

We dont have an Academy that says OK boys new words for 2013 are......
It is just how language changes

- gate as a postfix meaning scandal has run and run since 1972 - watergate break-in.

Linguists talk about strongly bound morphemes meaning they can be used on any word such as -s to pluralise a noun or weakly bound such as -en to pluralise a noun ( weak as -en pluralises only six - child, ox, etc)

-gate is strongly bound.

anything a little bit fishy gets gate stuck on its a+se.

reduplication :"gate-gate" - after all it is about the gates at Downing st is not observed. Reduplication (repeating a word to give emphasis ) is pretty uncommon in English.

open and shut aint in it - it just has to be a scandal

[maggiebee]

According to my dictionary:

Suffix - Gate: sometimes used with nouns to make a name for a political scandal, especially one that affects the president or government of the U.S.

Why do we have to use every US expression?

[weecalf]

danged if I know maggiebee

[anneasquith]

weecalfgate :)

[Peter Pedant]

Plebgate.....

Harrygate ..... about which s/o has tweeted: 24 Aug 2012 - Fr+ckin' love Boris' views on Harry-gate. "The real scandal would be if you went to Vegas and didn't misbehave.." Reply; Retweet Retweeted ..

The Iran–Contra affair (Persian: ایران-کنترا‎, Spanish: caso Irán-Contra), also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political .. ( the Farsi just says - Ayran-kontra) - where at one point Oliver North takes off his clothes and runs around a military base naked for two days

all dont involve the President of the US - or do they ?

[Mamyalynne]

Have a lie down Peter.

[Baldric]

Is it just me,
or is there an indecipherable post (or two) up there ^^^^^?