James Stanyer comments that 'revelations are given the 'gate' suffix to add a thin veil of credibility, following 'Watergate', but most bear no resemblance to the painstaking investigation of that particular piece of presidential corruption'. Such usages have been criticized by some commentators as clichéd and misleading. As a CBC News column noted in 2001, the term may 'suggest unethical behaviour and a cover-up'. The suffix has become productive as a libfix and is used to embellish a noun or name to suggest the existence of a far-reaching scandal, particularly in politics and government.
the complex itself was named after the 'Water Gate' area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 19.
The scandal was named after the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. The suffix -gate derives from the Watergate scandal of the United States in the early 1970s, which resulted in the resignation of U.S. 1 Etymology, usage, and history of -gateĮtymology, usage, and history of -gate.
