Years ago, my sister studied in a "law for foreign students" program in Boston. Since her fellow students were, predicatbly, from all over the world, the abundance of accents and ways of speech was astounding. Once, a fellow student asked her after class:
-Eera, do you want to go wheel washig?
-What? - asked my curious sister who has never hears of such an exotic passtime.
-Wheel washing. You know, for fun.
-Where would you go to do it?
-To a harbor, on a boat.
A boat with wheels? Like an old steam-boat? And in all her life my sister never suspected that they needed washing...
-Are the wheels on the boat?
-No, outisde!
Well, that is in keeping with the steam-boat, though my sister.
-And how do you wash them? With a broom?
-No, you look outside, maybe take a camera...
-Ah! "Watching!" You mean, "looking at them"?
-Yes, yes!
-And why would you look at wheels?
-They are interesting. They are so big!
Failing to understand how wheels, even big, can be interesting, my sister questioned further:
-And do they spin?
This got the guy to pause.
-I don't think they spin, - he said thoughtfully, - But they dive, and make fountains, and they are really big animals.
He meant "whale watching" - a popular sight on the Atlantic shore. My sister did go.