This isn’t a legal post, just a personal annoyance with the Media. Every time there is some sort of government or political scandal these days, the news people take some name or fact from the scandal and add “gate” to the end of the name. This is, of course, a play on the Watergate scandal involving President Richard Nixon, that was named after the Watergate Hotel at which the burglary took place that set off the scandal.
That happened almost 40 years ago. But, the news media cannot be bothered to think up new and clever names for scandals; all they can do is append “gate” to something. This gets boring and annoying. I would like to see the news media work a little harder and be more creative.
The latest I read was about Senator Kerry and his boat in Rhode Island. Someone called it “Yachtgate.” I guess the “gate” trick is a shorthand for a scandal and the prefix gives you a little idea of what it’s about. But I still say it’s unimaginative and lazy. Common news media, get creative!