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