Simple question: What do you call someone who has committed a misdemeanor?

       Mm-hmm . . . mm-hmmm . . . Clock's ticking . . . clock's ticking . . . all right, one who commits a misdemeanor is . . .  a misdemeanant.

       Sounds funny to me.  But host Warren Olney on KCRW's "To the Point" wouldn't use a word like that without knowing it was right.

       Olney was speaking with several law enforcement folks, including police chiefs and former police chiefs, and when they started using the word too, I knew it must be correct.

       Either that or Olney's erudition had them buffaloed, and they copied him, not wanting to appear dumb.  But the latter's not true; they sounded quite bright themselves.

       Nevertheless, if one who commits a felony is a felon, why isn't a person who commits a misdemeanor  . . . a misdemean? or as son David said, a misdemeano? ( Or, as I thought of later, misdemeanie.)