Being indoors in the rain has succeeded in one thing: enhancing our study.  For want of anything better to do, and after getting bored of getting bored (Man, we’re so bored!), we have dug deeper into books and laptops, peering more and more over shoulders.  And so our WOD (Word of the Day) – simile.  We love the word as much as we did brouhaha (Bow How Ha elections) because it is such a smiley word…whichever way you say it or spell it – we still do not get the concept of s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g – it is such a happy 😊 word!  But humans kill it by making it boring, using it to refer to daisies, and cucumbers, and lily, and toast, and so on and so forth.  Who wants to be as fresh as a daisy?  Or as warm as toast?  Intelligent and scholarly that we are, we have to jazz up the l-e-x-i-c-o-n.  See if you are as intelligent as SnuZa (simile #1) and check your score in the quiz that follows.   But let’s get one thing straight.  Notwithstanding any quiz, the fact remains that you will never find anybody or anything that is as adorable as SnuZa, so don’t even try.  Having made that clear at the outset, we move ahead.

First, find the right match:

[* Notice we are skirting the cliches – as inseparable as the yin and the yang – though nothing describes us better.

Answers – #2 c); #3 e); #4 a); #5 b); #6 f); #7 d).  Though, if your eyes have searched this or rested here, you are not #1 and can stop reading further.  We are obviously way ahead of you.]

Now you provide the similes to our generously worded clues:

1. As _______ as Zaza who falls for it every time and goes rushing around barking madly
2. As _____ as Snuggles chewing food delicately, setting aside the vegetables in a neat circle round the bowl
3. As ______ as Zaza slobbering and gulping contents of the bowl, vegetables and all, including those around Snuggles’ bowl
4. As ______ as Snuggles whose food has been polished off by Zaza in the 1/8 of a second she looked up to check why Mom was moving away
5. As _____ as Zaza in her deepest sleep to Mom’s movement to be followed around the house
6. As ____ as Snuggles’ sudden, scary realisation that Mom has mysteriously vanished
7. As _____ as Snuggles’ dash to search for Mom who has mysteriously vanished
8. As ____ as SnuZa’s navigation about rooms, bouncing on or off Mom’s tummy to determine maximum efficiency
9. As _____ as Zaza laying claim to every chair in the study (preferably Mom’s own) as her throne (or, pushing Mom / Big Sis off their pillows to lay her own head on them)
10. As ____ as Snuggles making do with the floor
11. As _____ as Zaza’s saliva that flows generously to shampoo upholstery the moment she alights on the above-mentioned study chair

Answers:

1. daft (refer #3 above)
2. dainty
3. grubby
4. woebegone / hungry (take your pick)
5. alert
6. slow
7. frenzied
8. ergonomic
9. regal
10. humble
11. copious

Now total your score, one point for every correct answer and check against this:

20 – Impossible.  You cannot reach our level.  Period.

17-19 – Enviable.  You are getting there – as nuanced as SnuZa in recognising subtleties – the difference between the sound of Mom’s house slippers and her outdoor shoes, between Mom slinging her bag to go out and picking it up to dust under it, when it is safer to make yourself invisible, and so on.

14-16 – Not quite there. As forlornly resigned to the situation as Snuggles settling down in a corner on seeing Folks getting set to go out without her.  Yet, as thick as Zaza who will just not get the point and scamper after the Folks all the way to the door.

11-13 – Go back to the drawing board and sharpen your senses.  Become as vigilant as SnuZa who protest and chase any belonging of the Folks being taken out of the house by an outsider, whether it is a bag of old clothes, a flower pot, or garbage.

Below 13 – Give up.  As hopeless as SnuZa’s maths. If you didn’t get what we mean here, start over and do some calculations of your own.