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Resolved Absolutely Serious Question: Where did....

AlphaVictor87

AlphaVictor87

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2011
797
27
Saint Louis, MO
the suffix gate come from? Like on Antennagate?

I get there was a problem with the antenna (all be it not a HUGE problem i know the % numbers)

But it really bugged me when people started saying like yellowgate and batterygate with the 4s, as i'm sure it did with many others.

Just trying to figure out why people started putting gate on the end of words if they had a problem with the phone.

I'm really not trying to troll and i didn't put it in the title because i didn't want a bunch of people coming in here ready to flame/down vote because i included the word gate in the thread title lol

Mods if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move it! Thanks!
 
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Ah youngins, actually watergate was before my time too, maybe it's a north American thing? (I'm from Canada)
 
This thread feels like a testament to a declining educational system in the U.S. Did you miss this in history class or did they not teach it?
 
These youngsters these days...ignornant of history. :p See correct responses above.
 
Small White Car said:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074119/

Rent it. Watch it.

It's not quite the same as reading about it, but in 2 hours you'll know a little bit more about American history. That's worth your time.
Click to expand...

All most people want to know now is what is the government going to do for me. Will they pay off my student loan, will the get me a car with free insurance for a year, will the give me money for not working, will the give me money for having a baby, will they pay for my housing, will the pay for my food, will they pay for my health care, will they . . . . . . . . . .:(
 
Stealthipad said:
All most people want to know now is what is the government going to do for me. Will they pay off my student loan, will the get me a car with free insurance for a year, will the give me money for not working, will the give me money for having a baby, will they pay for my housing, will the pay for my food, will they pay for my health care, will they . . . . . . . . . .:(
Click to expand...

What?

Taxes are at their lowest point in 50 years and the national debate is currently a fight between "should we cut them a little more or a lot more?"

In that atmosphere I don't know how you can say that "most people" are thinking the way you say they are. Maybe some, sure, but it's not being reflected in the current political debates which leads me to think it's sure not "most."
 
AlphaVictor87 said:
the suffix gate come from? Like on Antennagate?
Click to expand...

You mentioned the other day that the 87 in your user name came from your birth year, so I'll cut you a break on this one ;)

As others said, the suffix does come from the Watergate scandal. The common usage of "-gate" is to describe not just a problem, but a cover-up or refusal to acknowledge a problem. This I think is the reason that "Antennagate" got such traction as a term, because of the "You're holding it wrong" and refusal to acknowledge that there was a weakness in the antenna design.

Watergate was a significant story at the time of course, it resulted in the resignation of the President (who would have very likely been impeached if he'd not resigned). However in the great scheme of things, historically speaking, I don't think it had far-reaching consequences so it's not surprising to me that you may not have associated the term from high-school history lessons. You may well have covered the scandal in class, but not necessarily picked up the significance of the "Watergate" name.

Wikipedia actually has a page of "-Gate" scandals, many of which are as picayune as "Batterygate" and "Vibrategate" in our forum.
 
Watergate was well before my time. I'm certainly no history buff or expert but I'm aware enough of it to understand the -gate usage. IMO this really does speak to the decline of education in our country (and makes me feel like an old man to say so).

Even if you know nothing about history IMO you ought to know how to Google "gate suffix" and fish for yourself at the very least.
 
Man, people just lay on the fact that they think i'm ignorant and young.

I'm 24 years old and its the generation right below me that's giving my generation a bad name.

BadAngel - yes they taught it, yes i know what watergate is, i just dont necessarily think of linking something that happened in the 70's to an iPhone "cover up" now.

smallwhitecar - i'm good, i had my history lession on this years ago

stealth ipad - yah i'll agree with the generation below me will be asking for all that for years, however not EVERYONE falls into that category. I have over $40,000 in student debt, i pay all my own bills, buy my own food, pay for my own housing (even building a house right now while getting married) and i'm not asking for any breaks from the government at all.

That's the one thing i hate about this country is that once a group of people start doing something, even if you don't follow the cause if you can somehow be traced back to being "included" into that group of people by age or some other stat, that you are automatically lumped in with them.

sean - Yah 87 is my birth year, however i know what watergate is. I saw it mentioned in one of the "-gate" threads but i thought they were just making a joke thats where it started from.

takeshi - yah i could have easily searched for it, but this was more of a test for the people on this forum to see if they would answer a "seemingly" easy question without half of the responses being sarcastic or derogatory. Looks like i've gotten my answer on that too.

Thanks Everyone
 
bad angel said:
This thread feels like a testament to a declining educational system in the U.S. Did you miss this in history class or did they not teach it?
Click to expand...

FWIW, I never learned this in any of my World history or US history classes. It simply was not taught.

Granted, I did wonder about past Presidents at one point, the looked at each ones career out of sheer curiosity and then I learned about Watergate, but... whatever.

As far as I view it, a good educator teaches somewhat, but imbues a seed of curiosity, so you do your own research, form your own ideas about the world around you [people, nature, politics etc].
 
AlphaVictor87 said:
Man, people just lay on the fact that they think i'm ignorant and young.

I'm 24 years old and its the generation right below me that's giving my generation a bad name.

BadAngel - yes they taught it, yes i know what watergate is, i just dont necessarily think of linking something that happened in the 70's to an iPhone "cover up" now.

smallwhitecar - i'm good, i had my history lession on this years ago

stealth ipad - yah i'll agree with the generation below me will be asking for all that for years, however not EVERYONE falls into that category. I have over $40,000 in student debt, i pay all my own bills, buy my own food, pay for my own housing (even building a house right now while getting married) and i'm not asking for any breaks from the government at all.

That's the one thing i hate about this country is that once a group of people start doing something, even if you don't follow the cause if you can somehow be traced back to being "included" into that group of people by age or some other stat, that you are automatically lumped in with them.

sean - Yah 87 is my birth year, however i know what watergate is. I saw it mentioned in one of the "-gate" threads but i thought they were just making a joke thats where it started from.

takeshi - yah i could have easily searched for it, but this was more of a test for the people on this forum to see if they would answer a "seemingly" easy question without half of the responses being sarcastic or derogatory. Looks like i've gotten my answer on that too.

Thanks Everyone
Click to expand...


I don't understand your question. If you are familiar with watergate, then the term "antennagate" should make total sense. You were asking where the suffix "gate" came from, weren't you? So you know where it came from and you know what it means. I'm not trying to flame but I'm confused on what you were asking if you knew what watergate was. It seems so simple.
 
DirtySocks85 said:
Might want to have a doctor look at that. :p

But seriously, how did you not put the two together that "-gate" = "scandal" w/ a term originating from Watergate?
Click to expand...

Well one - because that happened in the early 70's and we are currently here decades later talking about problems with a smartphone somehow "relating" to a scandal like watergate. Not exactly on the same level.

two - i didn't really think the antenna problem was a "scandal"

three - gate was not a suffix for the hotel.... it was called the Watergate....

Sorry if i don't take an antenna problem as serious as a scandal with a president back in the early 70's

----------
sulpfiction said:
I don't understand your question. If you are familiar with watergate, then the term "antennagate" should make total sense. You were asking where the suffix "gate" came from, weren't you? So you know where it came from and you know what it means. I'm not trying to flame but I'm confused on what you were asking if you knew what watergate was. It seems so simple.
Click to expand...

To be honest, i thought the -gate was something a little more technologically related. Something about the circuits and how the antenna worked, and i never read up on it, so i was asking.

Just a simple harmless question.
 
AlphaVictor87 said:
Well one - because that happened in the early 70's and we are currently here decades later talking about problems with a smartphone somehow "relating" to a scandal like watergate. Not exactly on the same level.
Click to expand...

It's not like this just popped up out of nowhere after 30 years.

There have been hundreds of -gate named things named after Watergate.

So the iPhone -gate wasn't so much named after Watergate as it is simply another item on a constant, 30-year long list. If you're used to hearing 2 new ones every year then it becomes kind of automatic to assume each new one belongs on the list. It doesn't need to relate to Nixon...it just needs to relate to the list at large.

You say you've heard of Watergate, but you've somehow missed hearing about the hundreds of items on that list, I guess.
 
Small White Car said:
It's not like this just popped up out of nowhere after 30 years.

There have been hundreds of -gate named things named after Watergate.

So the iPhone -gate wasn't so much named after Watergate as it is simply another item on a constant, 30-year long list. If you're used to hearing 2 new ones every year then it becomes kind of automatic to assume each new one belongs on the list. It doesn't need to relate to Nixon...it just needs to relate to the list at large.

You say you've heard of Watergate, but you've somehow missed hearing about the hundreds of items on that list, I guess.
Click to expand...

Honestly yeah, i have. Had no clue, which is why this thread was helpful to me.

Not in the sense that i've never heard of watergate, but the fact that no, i don't pay attention to the news so i missed quite a bit.

After looking at the list, the main 2 sections the "-gate"'s happened in were politics (which i don't follow and if that makes me ignorant, well thats your opinion) and Sports, which i don't follow besides my own home town teams.

Antennagate was the first technological thing with a gate. So seeing as i really only follow technology (and even then i don't following ALL technology and don't consider myself super knowledgeable on ANYTHING), yah this would have been the first time i've heard about it.
 
seanfranklin said:
As others said, the suffix does come from the Watergate scandal. The common usage of "-gate" is to describe not just a problem, but a cover-up or refusal to acknowledge a problem. This I think is the reason that "Antennagate" got such traction as a term, because of the "You're holding it wrong" and refusal to acknowledge that there was a weakness in the antenna design.
Click to expand...

Well said. Your description is quite accurate.
 
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