Re: TAN: new words [was: RE: LONG: Latest Wenetaic Stuff]
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Saturday, October 30, 1999, 1:37 |
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.
Reminds me of -peat in colloquial usage, as in "4-peat champions"
("four-time champions"). Origin:
Repeat -> Threepeat (pun)
Threepeat -> Fourpeat (reanalysis of -peat as suffix)
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