(pug-NAY-shus)

Means: Eager to pick a fight or an argument, even when nobody asked.

Etymology: From Latin pugnax, "fond of fighting," which comes from pugnare, "to fight," which comes from pugnus, "fist." Same family as pugilist, a boxer. Also impugn, to attack someone's word, and repugnant.

"Two whiskeys in, my brother-in-law got pugnacious and challenged the jukebox."

A café racer is a motorcycle stripped down to the parts that make it fast, with the comfort cut out on purpose. It started with British kids around 1960 who rode hopped-up Triumphs and Nortons from café to café, and London's Ace Cafe on the North Circular Road became the clubhouse. You can spot one from across the street: low clip-on handlebars, a long skinny tank, a humped single seat, and an engine left out in the open like a trophy. The look never died, which is why Triumph still builds a Thruxton and Norton still sells a new Commando built in the old mold.

Why is liquor measured in "proof"? The story goes that British sailors in the 1500s tested rum by pouring it on gunpowder and trying to light it. If the powder still burned, the rum had "proved" itself strong enough to be worth the money. Britain later pegged 100 proof at about 57% alcohol. America made it simple and doubled the percentage, so 100 proof here is 50%. That's why a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 also says 50.5% on the label.

My buddy swears he bets on football "just for fun." Last Sunday I watched him beg a kicker in Jacksonville, a man he's never met, to make a 48-yard field goal. It missed by a foot. He took it worse than the divorce.

Rearrange the letters of DORMITORY into two words (five letters, then four) that describe what the place looks like by Sunday night.

Answer in tomorrow's issue.