Thursday, July 13, 2006
It's worse than I thought
Some time ago I mentioned the silliness of using “gate” as a suffix for a word referring to scandal or controversy. As in “Plame-gate” for the controversy over the exposure of Valerie Plame’s job as a CIA agent.
Well, the silliness—no, make that stupidity—is worse than I thought. Pam Robinson, over at the Words at Work blog, has a long and depressing list of examples. Among them: Koreagate, Thatchergate, Dianagate.
And the stupidity has spread around the world. It isn’t just Americans who have airheads in journalism. They are everywhere.
Pam suggests a “complete on pain-of-death ban.”
Ordinarily I’m opposed to capital punishment. But I’m prepared to make an exception.
