After referring to some household incident as “puppygate”, I started wondering about the practice of using -gate to indicate a scandal. I know it all leads back to Watergate, but I’m curious as to who first used “gate” to indicate a non-Watergate scandal. What is it about the “gate” portion of Watergate that lends itself so nicely to scandal naming?
From List of -gate scandals and controversies - Wikipedia :
“winegate” was apparently used in 1973, so nothing could have been much earlier.
I would also suggest that what may have actually cemented the usage was “Billygate” during the Carter administration which got a lot of newsplay, and happened to roll off the tongue rather well.
Is a swinging gate something that is useful on a farm or something that happens in Washington, DC?
Don’t really know…but if politicians stole all the gates and sold them to terrorists, that would be Gategate.
“Swinging Gates” is something that just sounds implausible, no matter how much money he has.
Ew, what an image.
Anyone have any idea who coined the term “Winegate” then? This might be critical knowledge if I ever show up on Jeopardy or something.