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    The name of an 18th century politician became a byword for things done on the cheap but has since passed into the English language. What is the word?

    Question #57402. Asked by gmackematix. (May 28 05 7:36 PM)


    lanfranco

    		How about "silhouette"? This word is derived from the name of Etienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), a parsimonious French Controller General, who demanded heavy financial sacrifices and taxes of nobles. Apparently, in his retirement, he also liked to make the cut-out portraits that became known as silhouettes.

    According to this site, the word "silhouette" was once used to describe something reduced to its simplest form, on the basis of Silhouette's approach to finance.


    http://6.1911encyclopedia.org/S/SI/SILHOUETTE_ETIENNE_DE.htm

    May 29 05, 7:34 AM
    gmackematix

    		Yay Frankie! I had heard that M Silhouette himself had nothing to do with these blackened portraits but because anything done cheaply was done "a la Silhouette" his name became attached to them.

    May 29 05, 7:49 AM

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