a failure to communicate

Apropos to my experience trying to find a calzador ("shoehorn") yesterday, here's a story. Anna and I were at an aikido party last year at a home in Fremont. There were these adorable little bilingual kids running around--the mother is Japanese, the father American.

There were dogs running around, so I ask the little four-year old girl: "What's the dog's name?"

"Natu."
"Natu?"
She looks puzzled. "No, Natu."
Now I'm confused. "Natu?"
"No! Natu!"
I'm in the Twilight Zone. I look at the guy next to me, who says he doesn't get it either. I ask again.
"Natu?"

The little girl screws up her face in confusion and walks away.

Later on I find her mom in the kitchen and ask about the dog's name.

"Natsu."

Right. Little kids have trouble pronouncing 's'.