Lexical Drift

[stoutfellow]

Here, courtesy of Language Log, are two interesting examples, caught in the process: gaydar and like.

Comments

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I was familiar with "like" in the sporting sense, and the "new" sense seems a straightforward generalization. It does seem to be a generalization, though. (Apparently Pullum wasn't aware of the sporting sense, which makes it seem a good deal more abrupt.)

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

I guess I have trouble recognizing "straightforward generalization" as drift. I think you are correct.

What has struck me is how "gate" as a suffix became instantaneously used to denote scandal and has so remained. And the poor Watergate was (and is) just a building.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

That is an awesome piece of innovative derivation. It's even been loaned to other languages. (The French dubbed the Lewinsky scandal bragate, a clever pun on braguette "pants fly".) I wonder if future historians are going to be scratching their heads trying to figure out how water figured into the Watergate scandal.

A less felicitous parallel is the use of "-peat" to mean "consecutive sports championship". It was born when the Chicago Bulls won their third straight NBA Championship in 1993, which came to be called a "three-peat". There was much talk of a "four-peat", which never materialised, although another "three-peat" did. After the first victory in that later string, one of my friends starting hearing the nonce formation "two-peat", which has subsequently worked its way into sports journalism (e.g Vics not focused on two-peat (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/09/1097261855363.html?from=storylhs).)

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

While most of the -gate scandals were not incredibly clever, I did laugh out loud when I first heard the derivation used, in "Whitewatergate".

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

The word "threepeat" was coined by a celebrating player immediately after San Francisco won its second consecutive Super Bowl in 1990.