Anyone who's taken even a quick flip through a Cat Who... mystery knows that Lilian Jackson Braun is quite a lexiphantic soul - meaning that she likes to use big words, for those of us who aren't lexiphantic ourselves. But with how many of Braun's "big words" are you familiar? Are you actually comprehending every bit of Braun's descriptive prose, or are you just skipping over the tough spots with an off-hand "yeah, whatever"? Take this quiz and see. (Ah, yes - you'll have to keep track of your own answers, folks - Frobnitz doesn't have CGI-script capabilities. (Your humble maintainer really doesn't have CGI-script capabilities either.) Just record them on a piece of paper or Notepad file. No cheating!)
1. In The Cat Who Went into the Closet, Qwilleran tells Celia Robinson that "in Pickax we have an eleemosynary foundation that's committed to the pursuit of justice." "Eleemosynary" means -
a) volunteer
b) charitable
c) vigilant
d) jes' plain nosy
2. Longtime "Straight from the Qwill Pen" fan Grummy welcomes Qwilleran to her "eyrie" in The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal - though not the cats; they aren't present. Why is that just as well?
a. the wide-open spaces and various barnyard animals of a farm would make it easy for one or both of them to get spooked and escape to parts unknown
b. the delicate antiques inside such a showplace would be easy for even dainty, careful Siamese to knock off and accidentally break
c. if either cat got out, it'd be hazardous and heck to try to get them back in at such a great height without human or feline or both falling
d. t'ain't good to take cats into a kennel
3. In The Cat Who Moved a Mountain, "irritatingly cloying" columnist Vonda Dudley Wix talks of pre-Depression vieux riche (I suppose) spending "a gloriously sybaritic week in salubrious surroundings" on Big Potato Mountain. We all know what "salubrious" means, of course, but how 'bout "sybaritic"?
a. pretty much the same thing as "salubrious" - y'know, hale and hearty and healthy and outdoorsy and all that junk
b. indulgently hedonistic
c. invigoratingly productive
d. dreamily relaxing
4. Qwilleran investigates the disappearance of an antique dagger in The Cat Who Could Read Backwards. One of the museum staff members comments that the dagger was stored in a vitrine before it vanished. Qwilleran asks, "What's a vitrine?" Well?
a) a protective case consisting of a round base and glass dome
b) a shelf or hollow inset into a wall protected by a pane of glass
c) a type of vault
d) a old type of desk drawer
5. In The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, Koko has taken to playing a dictionary game in which he scratches a page in the dictionary In one session, he unearths the word "koolakamba", which turns out to be a vital clue towards solving the case. What is a "koolakamba"?
a. a rare strain of poison
b. an archaic slang word meaning a scam or fraud
c. a type of tree found in southwest Asia
d. a certain species of African ape
6. Koko also fingers - or paws - the word "cypripedium" in the course of his dictionary games. Out of sheer coincidence, the same word is also included as an aentry in one of Charlotte Roop's crossword puzzles in The Cat Who Saw Red. What the blazes does this ubiquitous word mean?
a. a type of early bicycle
b. a flower shaped like a lady's slipper
c. a reference work used in nineteenth-century cryptography
d. a type of mausoleum in which Egyptians laid their mummified cats to rest
7. Fluxion photographer Tiny Spooner always has a problem, and, at the auction shoot in The Cat Who Turned On and Off, he complains that there are "too many dynamic lines and no chiarascuro". What would you tell him?
a. "It's spelled 'chiaroscuro', and there's nothing we can do about the lighting."
b. "It's spelled 'chiaroscuro', and if there were any, you'd probably break them."
c. "It's spelled 'chiaroscuro', and Percy wants to feature only domestic antiques in the photo spread, not imports."
d. "Hey, if you have a problem with the lack of babes around here, blunder on over to The Three Weird Sisters' shop and ask Cluthra for some lovage."
8. We're told that Dan Graham's pottery exhibition in The Cat Who Saw Red attracted "the usual vernissage crowd". So, who came?
a. The usual people who would come to an artist's opening exhibition. Duh.
b. upper-crust society snobs and status-seekers looking to get their noggins in the newspaper
c. pinko commie hippie art scum
d. a lot of that weird green stuff that grows on silver
9. In The Cat Who Saw Stars, the chef from Owen's Place is out of work, and Gary Pratt, owner of the Hotel Booze, wonders if she'd like a job at his place. Qwill advises against it - "The chef is out of your class, Gary. You couldn't even read her menu without a Larousse." Gary counters, "Are you kidding? I don't even know what a Larousse is!" Do you?
a. the definitive oenophile's guide to wines
b. an expensive brand of spyglass
c. a popular beginners' restaurant guide that includes an appendix of obscure culinary terms
d. a brand of French dictionary
10. Speaking of Stars, Qwill can't wait in that book until Polly gets back from vacation in Saw Stars; he'll finally be able to talk about local restauranteur Owen Bowen "'lacustrine' disappearance" with her. "A good word", Qwilleran thinks, "Polly will like it." Do you? Do you know what it means?
a. spooooooky
b. lake-related
c. sudden and capricious
d. possibly involving criminal activity
Bonus! What's wrong with the following sentence:
Mrs. Jasper said, "Well, now, with cleanin' Mr. Q's fireplace and moppin' the floor and brushin' off the cat hair that piles up on the drapes - oh, Lordy, I'll never know why Mr. Q don't keep them cats outside, like my dear mother - God rest her soul in heaven - did herself with her mousers - I t'ain't got time to mess around with ten-dollar words that say all fancy-like what simpler words can say jes' as easily."
The heck with the answers, back to the C-pad index.
Back to the Ronald Frobnitz and Family index.