Word of the week: "pulchritude," pronounced "PUHL-kri-tood." Frequently seen in standardized tests and spelling bees, it's a 10-dollar synonym for "beauty." In a key scene in the 2006 film "Akeelah and the Bee," the young title character misspells the word, which leads her to take a more studious approach to preparing for spelling contests.

"Trivia Wanted" Category of the Month: Sports. Because many trivia fans we know aren't sports fans, we're pretty choosy about the kind of sports trivia we use. We prefer our sports stuff to have an element of cleverness and/or surprise that would appeal to non-sports fans. So if you've got something like that, and long to see your name and hometown in newspapers throughout this great land, please let us know.

To give a person "the third degree" is to subject him to intensive questioning and/or rough treatment. This colloquialism is derived from:
A) Academia
B) A Biblical passage
C) Freemasonry
D) Milton's "Paradise Lost"

Previous answer: The name of Sri Lanka literally means "venerable, resplendent land" in Sanskrit.

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.