Leilani sometimes does not know an English term, pantyhose is one of them. She always calls them “Strumpfhosen”, [shtroomp-f-hosen] (strumpf=stocking and hosen=pants) which is the correct German term. She asked one of her teachers for one (it’s often cold), and was not able to describe what she meant. The teacher walked over to a little boy who speaks German as well, and repeated what she understood Leilani had said – it came out as “Strom-Haus” [shtrom-hows] (strom=(electrical )current haus=house). The little boy explained it was an electrical house, on a cord (which is a good guess for a 5 yo, an adult would probably have guessed a transformer substation or power plant). The teacher was even more confused.
When I came to pick up Leilani I was able to explain the difference, and had to pronounce each word a few times until she really heard the difference (Leilani did not hear the conversation).
Later I told the whole story to Andy and Leilani listened – Andy did not know what a “Strom-Haus” was, so Leilani helped him: “It is a gasoline house!”
