"R" and "L"

I wonder if Gareth is a name difficult to pronounce. My confinement lady asked me what my baby's English name is. I told her the name but she pronounced it as "Ga-left". Sigh. Anyway, I said to her that I preferred her to call Gareth by his Chinese name.

Somehow, this reminded me of an incident years ago. At that time, Edwin was only about 5 or 6 years of age. His kindergarten teacher gave him a homework in which he's supposed to bring objects that start with the alphabet "L" to school the next day. Edwin was cared for by my mum then, but he called his mum (Pearl) to inform her about his homework. Pearl only got him a "leaf" and he was so anxious that he revealed to my mum that he needed to bring more than one object that starts with "L" to school. I still remember Mum hurriedly came to me with Edwin in the evening when I was at home to ask me if I know of any other objects that begin with "L".

ME: Hmmm... Lemon? Lime?

Mum: I know! How about Labbit?

ME: Labbit? *Was laughing then*

Edwin: Mama, "Rabbit" starts with "R" not "L"

Mum: Ohhh..

I still can recall the scene quite vividly. Well, can't blame Mum. Afterall, she isn't English educated. But I can tell you that my mum is a great woman. She tutored me (Chinese) till I was Primary School and without her, I believe I wouldn't be able to speak Teochew fluently. =)