Richard Nixon, you’re the man! If it hadn’t been for you, our language wouldn’t have expanded so much. Or did it contract?
In any event, in 1974 your shenanigans at the Watergate Hotel began a trend. Since then, political scandals in the U.S. (we’ll ignore other countries for now) have been called Irangate (Ronald Regan), Nannygate (Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood), Strippergate (two–in San Diego and in Seattle), Emailgate (Hilary Clinton), Bridgegate (Chris Christie), and many, many others.
Then there are all the swinging “gates” in entertainment, academics, journalism, technology, and sports (we can’t ignore “Deflategate”).
If you want to recall others, Wikipedia has a good list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_%22-gate%22_suffix.
Look what Nixon started. Now, if we could just close this gate and corral all the dishonest, conniving politicians onto a far-away island with no way of communicating with the rest of us….
Meanwhile, I wonder what Nixon is doing these days, secure behind the Pearly Gates.