Everyone must stop using the word "gate" as a suffix for scandals.

In 1972 the Nixon administration attempted to cover-up their involvement in a burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate offices in Washington, DC. The ensuing "scandal," leading up to the resignation of President Nixon, became known as "Watergate."

Since that time, the word "gate" has become a suffix to mean "scandal," and has been tacked on to dozens, if not hundreds, of scandals for no good reason other than it is easy and lets readers and viewers know they are dealing with a BIG "SCANDAL!" (insert your moral outrage here)

The use of "gate" as a suffix has always annoyed me, but now it is being used in even minor scandals, such as the recent discovery that the New England Patriots illegally taped the play calling of at least one team. This has become known, now, as "spy-gate" or "video-gate."

If journalists are incapable of coming up with a catchy name for their scandal, perhaps they should just report the facts and leave the title to the made-for-TV movie executives. I'm sure they'll come up with something that has an unforgettable ring.

Since 1972, "gate" has been tacked on to the following words:

• Attorney
• Billy
• Coin
• Debate
• E-(as in e-mail)
• File
• Grope
• Hooker
• Iran
• Jowell
• Katrina
• Lewinsky
• Macaca
• Nipple
• Oil
• Plame
• Quail
• Rubber
• Spy
• Travel
• UN
• Vote
• Wheat
• Zipper (see Lewinsky)

I think we've pretty well covered the alphabet, with the exception of X, Y. Time to find some other "suffix" to abuse.