Re: TAN: new words [was: RE: LONG: Latest Wenetaic Stuff]

Nik Taylor wrote:

> Tom Wier wrote:
> > On a related note, some Cable channel in these parts has been
> > advertising a new series of programs dedicated to John Wayne on
> > Wednesday, and call it "John Waynesday".
>
> Well, that's more a pun than a -gate type coining.  Altho it seems to me
> that the -gate thing started out as a pun.  I believe Whitewatergate was
> the first, which, if so, would've been a simple pun based on Watergate.
> Then, once that word existed, -gate came to be a suffix.
Exactly.  There's no reason to bar puns as origins for language change.