"Well, aren't you sweet? Just wait right there and I'll fetch it for you," and she does, producing a bean mash with pita bread.

"It depends on where it is in the word, and what letters come next to it," she explains. "Between the E and the Y like that, it's soft, but with the R after it in grapefruit, it's hard to make the GR sound, which can't be made with the soft jer sound."

She says all this conversationally, and not in the least bit patronisingly.