Word of the Week: Taxon!

This week's word is TAXON: a taxonomic category, as a species or genus.

Diamonda stormed into the trophy room, nearly tripping over the huge polar bear rug in the doorway. “Stella!” she spat, her sapphire-blue eyes glinting angrily. “You know you’re not allowed within a thousand yards of Uncle Pierre’s house! I’m calling your parole officer!”

“Ahem,” mumbled Torque uncomfortably. “I’ll just leave you ladies to talk things out.” He killed the music and casually melted into the background, hiding behind a moth-eaten stuffed water buffalo.

“Diamonda?” Stella frowned prettily, staring around the room at the pelts and mounted heads. “Is that you? How did we end up in West Africa?”

“Don’t try that amnesia stunt on me,” hissed Diamonda. “It might have fooled the judge and both of your ex-husbands, but it doesn’t fool me!”

“You wouldn’t report your favorite sister, would you?” Stella fingered a brass plaque that listed the taxon of the Australian kookaburra bird. “I’ll buy you a new mink stole if you forget you saw me here,” she wheedled.

“Mink?” scoffed Diamonda. “The taxon mink alone would bankrupt you, and we both know it! Unless your new sugar daddy is bringing in more blackmail money than your last one!”

“You leave Torque out of this!” snarled Stella.

Word of the Week: Pulchritude!

We're a word-loving family, especially Dad. One of the GG's most popular features is the Word of the Week, an ongoing soap opera that features a vocabulary word used both correctly and incorrectly.

This week's word is PULCHRITUDE: physical beauty or comeliness.

Stella posed in the doorway, a vision of pulchritude in her long, sequined gown. "I do hope I'm not late," she purred, touching the glittering diamonds at her throat with a perfectly proportioned hand.

"Late? LATE?" snapped Torque. "We should have been there an hour ago! At this rate, your Uncle Pierre will be ready to cut us right out of the will, especially after you wrecked his Jaguar last week."

"I've had it with your bad pulchritude!" hissed Stella. "Would it kill you to look on the bright side for once?"