Message-ID: <6440083.1075861118624.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:01:19 -0800 (PST) From: wsmith@wordsmith.org To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org Subject: A.Word.A.Day--watergate Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Wordsmith @ENRON X-To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Susan_Scott_Mar2002\Scott, Susan M.\Deleted Items X-Origin: Scott-S X-FileName: sscott5 (Non-Privileged).pst Watergate (WOH-tuhr-gayt) noun A scandal involving abuse of office, deceit, and cover-up. [After Watergate office and residential complex in Washington, DC, the site of a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972 that resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon two years later.] Watergate, a scandal of mammoth proportions, has given us a useful suffix for describing a wide variety of subsequent scandals, from monicagate to enrongate, to the recent icegate or skategate, and hot off the press, gategate: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26164-2002Feb17.html "On this (campaign finance reform) bill and other political reforms, Congress should give primacy to the rights and needs of voters. Reform should not have to wait for a tangled election like the one just concluded - or a Watergate." A Step Toward Reform, The Boston Globe, Mar 30, 2001. This week's theme: words with presidential connections. Today's AWAD is sponsored by NannyTax, Inc., providing tax compliance services to employers of domestic help. For useful information and a free consultation, please visit: http://www.nannytax.com ............................................................................ Until it is kindled by a spirit as flamingly alive as the one which gave it birth a book is dead to us. Words divested of their magic are but dead hieroglyphs. -Henry Miller, novelist (1891-1980) Q: Tomorrow is my friend's birthday and I forgot to send her a gift. Help! A: Give the gift of words. Send a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day at http://wordsmith.org/awad/gift.html . It is the gift that keeps on giving the whole year long, and beyond. Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/watergate.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/watergate.ram