The NFL is a scandal
ridden league. Every couple of years the league has another team (usually the
Patriots) get caught breaking the rules. The media eats these up. A frenzy
starts around the issue with every TV station, radio show, columnist, and blog
trying to get their voice heard. Looking for a quick way to reference all these
scandals the sports world has taken to tacking -gate onto the end of a word.
For example, deflate-gate, bounty-gate, and spy-gate. This is a stupid practice
and it needs to stop.
The gate suffix
comes from the infamous Watergate scandal. The -gate in this name doesn't mean
anything. Watergate isn't called that because it involved water. The scandal,
which rocked the nation and resulted in the resignation of the President of the
United States Richard Nixon, was dubbed Watergate because that was the name of
the office complex that White House staffers broke into. If the complex had
been called Mountain View or Emerald Heights we would probably refer to that
scandal by one of those names.
Throwing gate onto
the end of a word or every new scandal just makes that media sound ignorant.
Every time I hear it uttered I cringe. The stupid practice really grids my
gears. If we need a short name to quickly refer to the next Patriots scandal
let's be a little more clever. Whatever happens just stop calling it
something-gate.
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