The Scamgate Connection

As the Reagan Administration copes with its burgeoning scandal, pundits are + facing a minor but nonetheless sticky problem of their own: what to call it. Ever since Watergate, the suffix -gate has been used to label virtually any hint of governmental wrongdoing (from the Koreagate bribery scandal to Lancegate, the flap over President Carter's former Budget Director). News of secret U.S. arms shipments to Iran was initially dubbed, unsurprisingly, Irangate. But as the scandal has broadened, the nicknames have multiplied: Armsgate, Contragate, Budgate (for McFarlane), Northgate (for Oliver).

Everyone's second favorite suffix, -scam, as in Abscam, has also had a heavy workout (Iranscam, or the rather infelicitous NSCam), as have various "connections" (the Contra Connection, the Swiss Connection, the Tehran Connection). More whimsical designations usually focus on the scandal's most intriguing character: Ollie's Follies, Oliver's Twist, Cuckoo Iran and Ollie, and even (for fans of '50s rock 'n' roll) the Buddy-Ollie Story. Reagan's foes have played the name game with partisan glee: Dutch's Clutch, Gippergate, Iranaround, Iranoutaluck . . . well, you get the idea.

Unfortunately, no single name seems to encompass all the tentacles of the expanding crisis: a Teapot Dome, say, or Bay of Pigs. Nor is the problem merely a linguistic one. Just what name the affair acquires may influence how it is viewed by the American public. A scandal dubbed, say, Ayatullahgate or Mullahmess will be hard to take seriously, much less spell correctly. On the other hand, a silly name could offer some welcome comic relief in what might become an increasingly grim affair.