Former FBI deputy associate director Mark Felt died Thursday. He was 'Deep Throat,' the key source for Bob Woodward's reporting on the Watergate scandal. For those younger readers who don't know, the Watergate complex at 2600 Virginia Avenue NW in DC is an upscale hotel and condo development. The DNC had offices there in 1972. Bob Dole still lives there, along with doubtless many other DC luminaries.

Anyway, ever since the Watergate scandal, reporters have been appending 'gate' to any and all political scandals, even when they have nothing to do with hotels, burglaries, or bugging. During the Clinton administration we had 'Travelgate' and 'Filegate.' When some Seattle councilpersons took big campaign contributions from a strip club owner, local reporters dubbed it 'Strippergate.'

'Strippergate' could not have been farther removed from Watergate. It was the opposite end of the country, it was thirty years later, and there was really no reason for the 'gate.' I wrote to the papers at the time and suggested that if they had to have a suffix, why not call it 'StripperMonica?' Younger readers would not have to puzzle over it, and at least to me, it was a lot catchier.

With the passing of Mark Felt, will the press finally bury the 'gate' suffix? My suggestion for a replacement remains 'Monica.' What is yours?