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P POISONED PANTS
In a memorable season 1 outing inspired by a true story, two sick kids lead House and his team to suspect they've been poisoned. They ultimately figure out that the boys bought some jeans off a truck that had been doused with toxic pesticide. A whole new definition of ''hot pants.''

Q QUIPS
Shore's favorite brutal bon mot, crafted with Laurie, dealt with a nun suffering from a long-forgotten contraceptive: ''You know how it is with nuns — you take out their IUDs, they just bounce right back.'' Laurie says the cast judges shows on their potential to spawn catchphrase-bearing shirts — a ''five-T-shirt script'' being top-notch.

R RATS
House has a little-seen pet rodent named Steve McQueen, which he caught in the attic of his former flame, Stacy Warner (see W). The mad doctor nearly killed the rat when he used it as a guinea pig to solve the Case of the Poisoned Pigeon Poop. Steve McQueen won't be rearing his whiskered mug again anytime soon — but House will be getting a dog in an upcoming episode.

S 'SEX KILLS'
Title of an ironic tale involving STDs, bad tickers, and a pre-Heroes Greg Grunberg, and a good way to sum up a large genre of House mysteries. Why the obsession with hanky-panky? ''Sex doesn't kill people — secrets kill people,'' says executive producer Katie Jacobs. ''Most secrets are related to sex, therefore, lots of sex on House.'' In other words, House is just like Grey's Anatomy? Hmm.

T TRITTER, MICHAEL
To acknowledge the hypocrisy and legal reality of his addiction, producers pitted House against this crabby cop (played by David Morse). House beat the rap by faking his way through rehab — and manipulating Cuddy to lie in court. ''It showed the effect House's problem has on people around him,'' says Edelstein.

U UNKNOWN CAUSE
There's been just one mystery that's defied House's diagnostic prowess, and only because the dead patient's family refused an autopsy. In season 2, another case finally solved the puzzle: It was Erdheim-Chester, a disease that's been documented only 200 times in history. Shore promises that before the series ends, House will confront another unbeatable challenge.

V VOGLER, EDWARD
An unscrupulous pharmaceutical magnate who briefly assumed control of the hospital, Vogler (Chi McBride) was an attempt to give House a villain — an idea mandated by Fox during House's rocky start. Ironically, by the time the Vogler episodes actually aired, House was a hit. Shore says there's no desire to bring Vogler back, adding that the boss-as-villain idea doesn't really work for the show, anyway: ''It's called House. The audience knows he'll never get fired.''

W WARNER, STACY
''The true love that got away,'' says Shore of House's ex-paramour, played by Sela Ward. Last season, when Warner started working at House's hospital, they rekindled their romance — until House, guilty over sabotaging her marriage, broke it off. Wilson's theory? The self-pitying narcissist just can't allow himself any kind of happiness.

X XX — OR XY?
A twisted take on the classic House MO: A supermodel is admitted to the hospital with a bevy of symptoms. Dangerous tests are performed and diagnoses considered (Viral encephalitis? Parancoplastic syndrome?) before House has a eureka moment — she is actually a pseudohermaphrodite and has testicular cancer.

Y YUCK
A bloody explosion south of the belt buckle, a loose eyeball, and barf galore: House is always good for a gross-out. Great pride is taken in this work. In one episode, a shot of a musical guest star's brain had to be tweaked with F/X. ''It looked too much like a crouton,'' says Jacobs. ''It was very hard to get Dave Matthews' brain exactly right.''

Z ZEBRA
In the pilot, Foreman relates a medical school maxim that ''if you hear hoofbeats, you think horses, not zebras'' — meaning that doctors should hunt for the expected, not the unexpected. House, says Shore, is all about searching for zebras. Early on, he worried they'd run out of zebras. Not anymore. ''Turns out the world is full of weird diseases,'' says Shore. ''Bad for the world — good for us.''