Our grandmother, Mrs. Relish (Reiniche), as the kids would call her, was French. Although she spoke English well, she had difficulty with a few English sounds and letters.  We often heard her calling to our neighbour, "Root, Root" ... instead of Ruth, Ruth!

One evening, some of my brother's friends came by to borrow the "little boat" as we called it then.  My grandmother said that was fine as long as they remembered to take the "hoars".  I will never forget the silence that followed and the look on those boys' faces.  I had to translate, "she means oars, not whores!" A good laugh was had by all.

It took many years before I could tell that story without tears of laughter coming to my eyes!