Annotation - Chapter 5, Page 28

• (28:10) "the Big 2 down from the Ram. Abel Goodparley & Erny Orfing the Pry Mincer and the Wes Mincer"

And two more: a "capable smoothtalker" and an "earnest orphan". EE Orfing also suggests "offering."

The Pry Mincer (Prime Minister) is naturally number one, but in a typical bit of linguistic confusion, his right-hand man has been named after Westminster, the London borough that is the center of government of the United Kingdom. Westminster Palace contains the houses of Parliament; Westminster Abbey is the cathedral where monarchs are crowned. (Thanks to SW for correcting the previous note which referred only to the Abbey. There is certainly no separation of church and state in Riddley's day.) The Wes Mincer is also later referred to as a shadder mincer.

The Mincery's home is called the Ram because it is located where Ramsgate is now—see Places. There is a small town to the west of Ramsgate named Minster; the names of Minster and Westminster both derive from the Latin word for monastery.