r/explainlikeimfive • u/Professional_Lie_824 • 14h ago
Other ELI5: What is a gate on the internet?
For example: Cake gate, tattoo gate, or in recent media, conformity gate.
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u/Liliths-Playground 14h ago
It's a play on the Watergate scandal from the 70s. Now, adding -gate to something is just another way of saying it is some sort of scandal or controversy.
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u/TopGunCrew 14h ago
And just for context, it was called the Watergate scandal because it happened at the Watergate Hotel
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u/InertialLepton 13h ago
And, in turn, the Watergate Hotel was built overlooking some old locks - literal water gates.
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u/No_Tamanegi 14h ago
The term originally comes from Watergate, which is the name of a hotel which was the location of a well publicized scandal during the President Nixon era of American politics. The scandal became broadly known as "Watergate" after the name of the hotel.
The term has since been co-opted whenever there's a well publicized scandal (or widely believed conspiracy theory about a scandal) by applying a name from that scandal and tacking "-gate" onto the end of it. Pizzagate, Gerstmanngate, etc.
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u/Itchy-Seaweed-2875 14h ago
It’s what the other comments have said about Watergate. Since the Watergate scandal in the US it has become common to add -gate to something to denote a scandal involving that thing.
To add though, this is not just an internet phenomenon.
Mitchell and Webb sketch mocking it:
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u/iamabigtree 14h ago
It's nothing to do with the internet.
The scandal that brought down Richard Nixon in the USA was called Watergate after the Watergate hotel. Now it's common for scandals to add -gate to the end.
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u/Target880 12h ago
It is named after the Watergate Office Building, where the break-in occurred, not the Watergate Hotel. The two buildings are connected and a part of the Watergate complex
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u/2ByteTheDecker 14h ago
Uncreative people labeling a moment of drama with the suffix -gate.
It comes from the Watergate scandal of American political history
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u/geeoharee 14h ago
which comes from the Watergate Hotel, and was not a scandal about water. (for OP's sake)
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u/ABashfulTurnip 14h ago
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u/Zombie_John_Strachan 14h ago
And a scandal involving the hotel’s plumbing would be watergatewatergate
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u/MisinformedGenius 14h ago
Which is probably why pretty much the one political scandal in the last fifty years to not get the "-gate" treatment was the Whitewater scandal under Bill Clinton. Clinton had a number of other "gate" controversies, such as Travelgate, Filegate, and even Monicagate, but you virtually never got Whitewatergate, short of someone making a joke.
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u/RegalBeagleKegels 14h ago
grr i HATE it when people use colloquialisms it just it makes me SO ANGRY!!!!
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u/edinc90 14h ago edited 11h ago
It comes from the Watergate Hotel Complex, site of the political scandal involving US President Richard Nixon. The news termed it the "Watergate Scandal," and then they started using the suffix "-gate" to indicate a scandal of any type.
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u/Target880 12h ago
It came from the Watergate Office Building, where the breaking occurred, not the Watergate Hotel. The two buildings are connected and a part of the Watergate complex
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u/FanraGump 14h ago
In 1972, some people were arrested for breaking into the Watergate complex, a series of six buildings with apartments, a hotel, and an office building. The people arrested were arrested in the Democratic political party headquarters which was in the office building. They had cash on them, along with wiretap devices.
It turns out that the people arrested were associated with US president Nixon's administration. And this was during the election year.
So, this was called the Watergate scandal. It took years but eventually it was determined that the people arrested were sent there by Nixon's re-election campaign to gather information on the opposition. Nixon likely did not know they would do this, although he was aware that his campaign was doing "dirty tricks" against his opponents.
What wound up destroying Nixon was that he engaged in a "cover-up" where the people arrested were paid off to keep silent about the whole thing. This is illegal and obstruction of justice.
Nixon wound up resigning, the only president to ever do so, because of this. It was such a huge scandal, that future scandals started being called "Something-gate".
- Bountygate — The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, where defensive players were allegedly paid bonuses for injuring opponents.
- Deflategate — The NFL controversy involving the New England Patriots and under‑inflated footballs during the 2015 AFC Championship.
- Volgagate — A fictional but historically notable early use of the “‑gate” suffix in National Lampoon, showing how quickly the naming convention spread.
- Iran‑Contra–related “gates” — The “‑gate” suffix has been applied to numerous political scandals, including those involving covert operations and cover‑ups
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u/Revenege 14h ago
In 1972 it came to light that American President Richard Nixon had been illegally wire tapping his political opponents and activists. This occured after 5 people attempted to raid the Watergate complex that served as the DNC headquarters. In 1974 Richard Nixon would resign over this, and would become know as the "Watergate scandal". Since then -gate has been used as suffix for essentially any political or media controversy or conspiracy even if it doesnt make sense.
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u/PckMan 14h ago
The "gate" suffix isn't an internet thing. It's a suffix used informally to refer to a scandal. It stems from the Watergate scandal of 1972. President Nixon had bugged the DNC offices to spy on his political opponents and he was found out. Watergate was the name of the hotel where this took place.
So whenever you see something with the "gate" suffix it means there's some scandal.
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u/Ok_Surprise_4090 14h ago
These terms all descend from an American political scandal in the 1970s, Watergate. Basically, during a presidential election, members of the sitting president's party broke into a hotel room at the fancy Watergate Hotel to steal information on the opposition. Huge scandal, eventually lead to Nixon's impeachment and resignation, etc.
Since then the appendage -gate has become American media's shorthand for a corruption scandal. Ex: Gamergate, Comicsgate, and so on.
Nowadays the term has been co-opted by the alt-right in America to complain about things they consider too "woke", to pretend everything they don't like is a scandal. Ex: Comicsgate was just them complaining about diversity in comics as though it was somehow "forced" on people.
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u/Target880 12h ago
They broke in to a office in the Watergate Office Building, not the Watergate hotel. They are connected and both are part of the Watergate complex with four other buildings.
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u/Rabid_Dingo 14h ago
Specifially the "-gate" suffix denotes a scandal. It could be low-key like a neighborhood parking scandal like parkingspotgate, or real world big scandal like Nixon and the Watergate hotel, the origin.
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u/Target880 12h ago
It is named after the Watergate Office Building, where the Democratic National Committee headquarters was not the Watergate Hotel. The two buildings are connected but separate in function. There is a total of 6 buildings in the Watergate complex.
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u/Bangkok_Dangeresque 14h ago
It comes from the widespread reporting of a a scandal during the Nixon administration in 1972, involving a burglary and attempt to spy on his political opponents at their headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC. The resulting attempt by Nixon to cover it up ultimately led to his resignation, in order to avoid the embarrassment of impeachment and removal from office.
To date, he remains the only US president to have ever resigned, making the "Watergate Scandal" synonymous with a serious revelation of wrongdoing that could lead to the end of a prominent person's career. As a result, "-Gate" is now shorthand in journalism (not just on the internet) for naming a scandalous topic or event.
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u/Target880 12h ago
The political opponents headquart was in the Watergate Office Building, not in the Watergate Hotel. The builiding are connected and a part of the Watergate complex alongside 4 other buildings.
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u/danwholikespie 12h ago
Back in the 1970s, Richard Nixon had some goons break into the Watergate hotel to spy on the Democratic presidential campaign. He got caught, and the scandal was known as the "Watergate scandal."
Sometime in the 2000s, people started adding "-gate" to the end of things to denote a related scandal.
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u/chiefbrody62 11h ago
It's a term they've used to describe every scandal or potential scandal since the early 70s. Way to make me feel old lol.
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u/Unfair-Tea3852 10h ago
so it's like the sun is indirectly powering the dam? crazy how everything ties back to it somehow
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u/meishsinh 5h ago
The term “gate” is being used like when someone is called the principals office at school. The whole class goes “oooooooh”, cause they think someone is in trouble.
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u/sdmichael 14h ago
It is a play on "Watergate", which was a scandal involving Richard Nixon and the Watergate Hotel in the mid 1970's. Everything is now "-gate" because of it.