We were having a barbecue party with the neighbors when their 5-year-old son, Tommy, looked at the sausages and suddenly said, “Mommy and Daddy have a special toy they play with when I go to bed!” Everyone went quiet. The mom turned very red, and the dad looked like he wanted to disappear. Then, to our horror, Tommy started to say that his parents make a lot of loud noises, and he can hear them from his bedroom for hours.
It turns out that Tommy was talking about his parents’ favorite evening activity: working on puzzles. I felt embarrassed for them, knowing how easily Tommy’s innocent words could be misunderstood. As his mom’s close friend, I knew they loved doing puzzles together as a way to relax after the kids went to bed.
The reason Tommy called the puzzle a “toy” was because he couldn’t say “puzzle” correctly and used “toy” instead.
