Of terms of endearment and moustaches

     Such, then, as the relationship of the young couple, when one summer morning Brancepeth's telephone rang and, removing the receiver, he heard the voice of the girl he loved.
     "Hey, cocky," she was saying.
     "What ho, reptile," responded Brancepeth. "Where are you speaking from?"
     "Rumpling. Listen, I've got a job for you."
     "What sort of a job?"
     "A commission. Father wants his portrait painted."
     "O, yes?"
     "Yes. His sinister design is to present it to the local Men's Club. I don't know what he's got against them. A nasty jar it'll be for the poor fellows when they learn of it."
     "Why, is the old dad a bit of a gargoyle?"
     "You never spoke a truer word. All moustache and eyebrows. The former has to be seen to be believed."
     "Pretty septic?"
     "My dear! Suppurating."

(from Lord Emsworth and Others, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

I enjoy learning new words, so I had to look up "suppurate." It means "to form or discharge pus; fester."