Are You a -phile?

Are you a "bibliophile"? That is a lover of books. The suffix -phile denotes a fondness for a specified thing and comes from the Greek philos meaning "loving." A heliophile is a lover of the sun.

There are hundreds of different types of "philes" with new ones being created for new things but probably using a Greek or Latin word attached to the suffix.

A retrophile loves things from the past. "Retro" itself is fairly new being a 1960s creation 1960s from French rétro, an abbreviation of rétrograde which has a number of meanings (mostly scientific) but usually refers to something going backward or reversing.

An oenophile comes from oinos, the Greek word for wine and so an oenophile is a lover of wine. This isn't just someone who drinks a lot of wine, but rather is interested in wine production and probably collects wines.

You don't hear many people saying they are turophiles, but many people do love cheeses. Taking the Ancient Greek word for cheese, "turos," is much classier than saying you're a cheesephile or cheesehead. The true turophile (as with oenophiles) doesn't just eat up all the cubes of cheddar on the appetizer table, but knows many types of cheeses and collects favorites.

A few others:

• Cynophile - lover of dogs
• Pluviophiles have a fondness for rain (Latin pluvial for rain). A lover of rain does not just find enjoyment in the physical presence of rain, they also find joy and peace when a rainy day descends.
• Can you hear a color in caeruleaphile? These people have a strong fondness for blue.
• I know many javaphiles who love their coffee. This one is neither Latin or Greek but takes the slang word ‘java’ for coffee.

More 
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53610/15-philes-and-what-they-love

https://steemit.com/philes/

Countries Ending in -stan

Have you noticed how may countries end with -stan? This suffix comes from the Proto-Indo-European language which was a prehistoric Eurasian language. Linguists have reconstructed it and find it in many language descendants.

In Russian -stan means “settlement.” In other Slavic languages it means “state.” But it is the ancient Indo-Iranian peoples (descendants of Proto-Indo-Europeans who moved east and south from the Eurasian steppe) who used -stan to mean “place” or “place of” that we find in the names of the modern countries.

Urdu and Pashto, the official languages of Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively, both descend from the Indo-Iranian language. Also the former Soviet -stan countries have historically been mostly ethnically Turkic and speak languages from the Turkic family.

So, Afghanistan is the "Land of the Afghans.”

Kazakhstan is the “Land of the Kazakhs” and Kazakh is derived from a Turkic word meaning “independent.”

Kyrgyzstan being the “Land of the Kyrgyz” and Kyrgyz is thought to come from the Turkic word for “forty” being a reference to forty clans that banded together.

Though Pakistan - “Land of the Pure” in Urdu could come from the Indo-Iranian pak, word for “pure/clean”), the country’s name was constructed as an acronym in the 1930s. It referes to the area’s constituent cultures: Punjabi + Afghani + Kashmiri + Sindhi + Balochistan with an "i" inserted to aid pronunciation.

Tajik historically was used by Turks to refer to “non-Turks” that spoke Iranian-related languages, so Tajikistan is the "Land of the Tajiks.”

Turkmenistan is the “Land of the Turkmen.”

Uzbeki+stan rom Uzbek which either comes from Uzbek Khan, a tribal leader who united different groups in the region, or a combination of Turkic words meaning “his own master.”


Source: Mental Floss

Scandals Ending in -gate

     The Watergate complex - via Wikimedia

The list of scandals or controversies whose names include a "-gate" suffix continues to grow. The suffix -gate in this usage derives from the Watergate scandal of the United States in the early 1970s, which resulted in the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon.

The scandal was named after the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., the site of a break-in that triggered journalists to investigate. The complex itself is named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965.

The suffix is added to a noun or name to suggest the existence of a scandal, particularly in politics and government, especially when there is the suggestion of Watergate-like unethical behavior and a cover-up.

William Safire, the conservative New York Times columnist and former Nixon administration speechwriter, promoted the usage of -gate. In September 1974 he wrote of "Vietgate" (a proposed pardon of the Watergate criminals and Vietnam War draft dodgers) and later used the terms Billygate, Briefingate, Contragate, Deavergate, Debategate, Doublebillingsgate, Frankiegate, Franklingate, Genschergate, Housegate, Iraqgate, Koreagate, Lancegate, Maggiegate, Nannygate, Raidergate, Scalpgate, Travelgate, Troopergate and Whitewatergate.

It all started in the political realm and continues to be used there. Irangate or Contragate (also referred to as the Iran–Contra affair) during the 1980s involved the Reagan Administration selling weapons to Iran and diverting the proceeds to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

More recently, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has had two -gates. Though neither one led to any legal repercussions for him, they probably were factors in him being passed over as a Vice-Presidential running mate for Donald Trump. First was Bridgegate in 2013 when allegations that Christie's administration ordered lane closures from Fort Lee, New Jersey, to the George Washington Bridge because the Fort Lee mayor did not endorse his reelection. Next was Beachgate in 2017 when the Governor was caught on camera lounging in the sun with his family at a state-owned beach house amid a statewide government shutdown that closed such beaches to the public.

Weinergate was a 2011 scandal involving U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner and his Twitter account. Weiner claimed that his account had been hacked, but later admitted he sent numerous lewd photographs to women. In 2013, he resigned from the House.

But the -gate suffix has gone beyond politics.

In the arts, examples include Celebgate when in 2014 almost 500 private pictures of various celebrities (including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst, and Jessica Brown Findlay), many containing nudity, were leaked via iCloud and posted online at 4chan, and later disseminated by other users on websites and social networks.

This year was Envelopegate  which occurred at the Academy Awards. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced La La Land as the winner for Best Picture. A few minutes later, after the producers gave their acceptance speeches, it was announced that Moonlight was the actual winner. Beatty explained that the envelope that was handed to him showed Emma Stone as the winner for Best Actress, which she already won earlier. PricewaterhouseCoopers has taken the blame for the fiasco and has apologized.

An example from journalism is Rathergate (also known as "Memogate") from 2004 over a forged memo about George W. Bush's military record that ultimately led to the resignation of Dan Rather as anchor of CBS Evening News.

Sports has had two Spygates. One, also known as Stepneygate, involves a 2007 allegation of espionage in Formula One racing carried out by members of the McLaren team. Another Spygate scandal that year involved the New England Patriots' videotaping of the New York Jets defensive signals during an NFL game.

And those patriots had another -gate in 2015's Deflategate. The NFL investigated reports that game balls had been deflated by the team to enable firmer grips on passes. It was reported that 11 of 12 footballs provided by the Patriots were underinflated and on May 11, 2015, the NFL announced it had suspended Tom Brady without pay for 4 games of the upcoming season. The Patriots were fined $1 million and lost their first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and their fourth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. In September 2015 a federal judge overturned the suspension, allowing Brady to play the 2015 season. A federal appeals court overturned the lower court's ruling, reimposing the suspension for 2016.

In the tech world, Apple suffered Bendgate in 2014 when numerous people reported bent iPhone 6 Plus phones, which was later reported on by Consumer Reports. In 2015, Chipgate emerged when it was discovered that Apple used two different kinds of processors in the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, one made by Samsung and the other by TSMC, with the Samsung one running hotter and using more battery life.

You can read about many more on the Wikipedia list of scandals with the "-gate" suffix.