Peter - What a disappointment! I have to confess to a preliminary skim of your post during which I came across the word 'avocat'. I live in the land of the avocet, and knew the word avocation, but 'avocat'? Out with my dictionary, (regrettably only the Concise Oxford, I still can not prevail upon my OED disc to work with Windows XP), but no help. I then did what I should have been doing earlier and read your post with some greater care, only to find that it was no more than a turgid typo, of the type that afflicts us all. Where upon I had a vague tinkling at the back of my cranium, was there not a pre-war concert pianist named Dupaty? At last my little grey cells got somewhere near up to speed - wrong again. Was he not named something like Denu Le Pati? (Very phonetic). Yours Aye Andrew Sellon East Anglia A Quaker baby? Impossible! There is no such thing; there never was; they are always born broad-brimmed and in full quake. Rev. Sydney Smith 1771-1854, Canon of St. Paul's. From: <[email protected]> <snip> > > I believe that this very ordinary avocat was born in > the Alsace region ? > <snip>