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A.Word.A.Day--munchkin

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munchkin (MUNCH-kin) noun

1. A very small person, especially one with an elflike appearance.

2. Informal. A child.

3. Informal. A minor official.

[After the Munchkins, characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.]

"Once a low-level munchkin in conservative intellectual circles, Lind has recently won himself a good deal of ink by denouncing his former patrons as divisive and reactionary." Pitney, John J., Jr., Powertown: A Novel.(book reviews), Reason, 1 Jan 1997.

This week's theme: eponyms from fiction.

X-Bonus

To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty of nature. If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in. -Richard Feynman (1918-1988)

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