880. "Father" as a word shows how we humans love to extend our metaphors. Did you know it was only relatively recently that priests were referred to as "father," for example? And then, for the 50th anniversary of the Watergate scandal, we look at the "-gate" suffix and what made it so successful that it has spread all over the world (even to non-English-speaking countries).
Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/the-many-meanings-of-father-how-watergate-changed-english
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| Sources for the "father" segment by Valerie Fridland
"father, n." OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/68498?rskey=gVoRUz&result=1&isAdvanced=false (accessed June 05, 2022).
"pope, n.1." OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/147798?rskey=d5Ttqw&result=1&isAdvanced=false (accessed June 06, 2022).
"thing, n.1." OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/200786?rskey=dIOiJo&result=1&isAdvanced=false (accessed June 06, 2022).
Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). "Abbot." Britannica Academic. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://academic-eb-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/levels/collegiate/article/abbot/3248
Elder, Gregory. Nov. 15, 2007. Why do we call priests father? Redlands Daily
Facts. https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2007/11/15/why-are-priests-called-father/ (accessed June 06, 2022).
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