Friday, March 17, 2006

Cute

At Leiter Reports, Jessica Wilson tells of a study showing that politics affects your brain (which explains the empty partisan rhetoric from both sides). But
she demurs
:
So far as I can tell, the only thing that prevents progressives from rationally responding to contradictions uttered by the evil mignons of the right are the sheer numbers of them.
"Evil mignons of the right" – I like that. According to my dictionary, "mignon" is an adjective, which is fine (even in English you can use adjectives as nouns), but it means "small, delicately formed, and pretty: dainty." So who could we be talking about here? Not Ann Coulter, that's for sure. Ralph Reed maybe?

Interestingly, "minion," which is the word I think Jessica was looking for, comes from the same French word ("mignon," as in filet). Here are the definitions given [Webster's New Universal Unabridged, 2nd edition]:
1. a favorite, especially one who is a servile follower: term of contempt.
2. a mistress; a paramour. [Obs.]
3. in printing, a type, in size between brevier and nonpareil, about seven-point.
4. a small cannon used in the seventeenth century. [Obs.]
Maybe that last one is really the one we want here.

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