Word: suffixing
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Reagan Administration copes with its burgeoning scandal, pundits are + facing a minor but nonetheless sticky problem of their own: what to call it. Ever since Watergate, the suffix -gate has been used to label virtually any hint of governmental wrongdoing (from the Koreagate bribery scandal to Lancegate, the flap over President Carter's former Budget Director). News of secret U.S. arms shipments to Iran was initially dubbed, unsurprisingly, Irangate. But as the scandal has broadened, the nicknames have multiplied: Armsgate, Contragate, Budgate (for McFarlane), Northgate (for Oliver...
Everyone's second favorite suffix, -scam, as in Abscam, has also had a heavy workout (Iranscam, or the rather infelicitous NSCam), as have various "connections" (the Contra Connection, the Swiss Connection, the Tehran Connection). More whimsical designations usually focus on the scandal's most intriguing character: Ollie's Follies, Oliver's Twist, Cuckoo Iran and Ollie, and even (for fans of '50s rock 'n' roll) the Buddy-Ollie Story. Reagan's foes have played the name game with partisan glee: Dutch's Clutch, Gippergate, Iranaround, Iranoutaluck . . . well, you get the idea...
...term little dog, and the Germans, little treasure. Littleness is the key to many of these expressions. For some reason the tendency in the language of love is to make less of the object of one's affections; it is quite common in most languages to add a diminutive suffix to a name (in Russian, ya, in Greek, oula, in Irish, een) so as to express fond feelings. Psychologists might suggest that the purpose of these diminutions is to assert the superiority of lover to loved one ("my pet"), but the effect diminishes all parties. We have created these words...
...Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, first published in 1939, is an extended lyric poem, and was the first appearance of "negritude" in print. In choosing the word, its creators had simply latinized the derogatory word for black in French (negre) and attached an augmentative suffix. Lacking in English ****equivalent, the term has no absolute definition. Cesaire chose to show negritude in relation to its negation so as to illustrate its strength...
...journalists and other political observers have tried to restore some sense of proportion to the affair. Columnist David Broder of the Washington Post, whose newspaper has been among the most heated in pursuit, last week deplored the unthinking usage of the suffix "gate" for matters that in no way echo the vast moral subversion of the Nixon era. Wrote Broder: "The mischief in labeling is that it sometimes distorts reality. On the basis of what is known now, not only is this not another Watergate, it is almost exactly the opposite." Reagan aides have talked to reporters. The President...