"It's a figure of speech Michael. Why vexed?"--- .,,. Sorry I neglected to reply to this question of yours yesterday, Susan. I wasn't saying I was vexed. The phrase I used, following my suggestion that it was in vain to hunt for ur-versions, comes from the book of Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities. All is vanity," it begins; and later on, the Preacher varies the assertion to "All is vanity and vexation of spirit", which was of course what I was quoting.