Aye, tis always a surprise what sayings are universally understood and which aren't. In my own 'sayings' lexicon, mostly picked up from my mother who was a jackdaw for collecting them from hither and thither, lighting the blue touch paper is an idiom for knowingly and deliberately, perhaps cynically, provoking an explosive reaction, not just any old reaction, but outrage, annoyance, protest, etc. I also received a different teaching about dialect and accent/pronunciation, so it only goes to show, nothing stands in the way of mutual understanding better than communication. Celia Renshaw in Chesterfield, Derbyshire On 14 January 2016 at 19:12, Maisie Egger via <lanark@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Celia, and just what does this mean --- "Speak properly" Nivard? Is that a deliberate lighting of the blue touch-paper? --- > and here I’ve been carping on about the Glasgow patter being unintelligible for those not conversant with it. > > I had to go to Google to get an understanding of the expression only to discover that it is a colloquialism...so if you’re not in the know, you won’t ‘get it!’ > > > "Touchpaper" is paper impregnated with saltpetre (potassium or sodium nitrate; a. k. a. "nitre"), and used as a fuse for explosives, > > especially fireworks. Lighting it initiates the process leading to the explosion. To "light the blue touch paper" is simply a colloquial expression > > meaning "to kick things off" or "to get things started" > > > Maisie > > ------------------------------- > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Celia, Very interesting - but perhaps you could define "jackdaw"? Ken Harrison North Vancouver, Canada -----Original Message----- From: lanark-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:lanark-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Celia Renshaw via Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 1:30 PM To: Maisie Egger; lanark@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Lanark] "Speak properly" Nivard? Is that a deliberate lighting of the blue touch-paper? Aye, tis always a surprise what sayings are universally understood and which aren't. In my own 'sayings' lexicon, mostly picked up from my mother who was a jackdaw for collecting them from hither and thither, lighting the blue touch paper is an idiom for knowingly and deliberately, perhaps cynically, provoking an explosive reaction, not just any old reaction, but outrage, annoyance, protest, etc. I also received a different teaching about dialect and accent/pronunciation, so it only goes to show, nothing stands in the way of mutual understanding better than communication. Celia Renshaw in Chesterfield, Derbyshire On 14 January 2016 at 19:12, Maisie Egger via <lanark@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Celia, and just what does this mean --- "Speak properly" Nivard? Is that a deliberate lighting of the blue touch-paper? --- > and here I've been carping on about the Glasgow patter being unintelligible for those not conversant with it. > > I had to go to Google to get an understanding of the expression only to discover that it is a colloquialism...so if you're not in the know, you won't 'get it!' > > > "Touchpaper" is paper impregnated with saltpetre (potassium or sodium nitrate; a. k. a. "nitre"), and used as a fuse for explosives, > > especially fireworks. Lighting it initiates the process leading to the explosion. To "light the blue touch paper" is simply a colloquial expression > > meaning "to kick things off" or "to get things started" > > > Maisie > > ------------------------------- > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I suspect those of an age will know "light blue touch paper and retire immediately" On your fireworks of course ;-) Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 14/01/2016 21:30, Celia Renshaw via wrote: > Aye, tis always a surprise what sayings are universally understood and > which aren't. In my own 'sayings' lexicon, mostly picked up from my > mother who was a jackdaw for collecting them from hither and thither, > lighting the blue touch paper is an idiom for knowingly and > deliberately, perhaps cynically, provoking an explosive reaction, not > just any old reaction, but outrage, annoyance, protest, etc. > > I also received a different teaching about dialect and > accent/pronunciation, so it only goes to show, nothing stands in the > way of mutual understanding better than communication. > > Celia Renshaw > in Chesterfield, Derbyshire --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus