Hi all Just can't help but join in. As someone with Scottish family this discussion on dialects has been very absorbing. Same the world over. Here in some parts of Australia we use the term "bower bird" to mean the equivalent of Anne's comments below." Wikipedia describes the actions of a bower bird as "In and around the bower, the male places a variety of brightly coloured objects he has collected. These objects - usually different among each species - may include hundreds of shells, leaves, flowers, feathers, stones, berries, and even discarded plastic items, coins, nails, rifle shells, or pieces of glass. The males spend hours arranging this collection." As someone who is a long time hoarder, I am often described as a bower bird by family. I understood the "Lighting of the blue touch-paper" although it is now an uncommon expression in my parts. Regards Ian Scott Western Australia -----Original Message----- From: lanark-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:lanark-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Anne Burgess via Sent: Friday, 15 January 2016 4:08 PM To: Ken Harrison <kenharrison43@shaw.ca>; lanark@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Lanark] "Speak properly" Nivard? Is that a deliberate lightingof the blue touch-paper? > Very interesting - but perhaps you could define "jackdaw"? A jackdaw http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4505383 is a species of crow which is well-known for collecting small and often shiny objects to decorate its nest. By extension the word is sometimes used metaphorically for a person who likes to collect and hoard things. Anne <snip>