I took this vocabulary test, and was, being me, a bit miffed at the words I didn’t know. But I wrote them down, so I have a new word-a-day for the next month!

Today’s word is vibrissae:

Plural of vibrissa

1: any of the stiff hairs that are located especially about the nostrils or on other parts of the face in many mammals and that often serve as tactile organs
2: any of the stiff hairs growing within the nostrils that serve to impede the inhalation of foreign substance
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/vibrissa

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vibrissae offers in addition:
[From Late Latin vibrissae, nostril hairs, from vibrre, to vibrate; see vibrate.

I haven’t visited the Cali Catpeople in a while…, so…

Bay liked the claws; always a small woman, she had learned early to fight dirty, and liked the added advantage of a hidden weapon. She liked the teeth, although they took some getting used to, to talk around, to eat with. But the vibrissae, as their handlers insisted on calling them… those took more than a little adjustment. They felt as if the whole world was pulling on her face with every move.

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