The funniest thing

I had the funniest moment today in the voice room (free discussion).

About 7 or 8 of us were talking about Japanese history and the Edo period (I learnt: 1603-1867). And also how the Japanese emperor, along with some strong prefectures rallied the country against the Shogunate and the Shogun, who by the way, lived in Edo (now called Tokyo).

Anyway, I asked if there was an emperor now; there is, and he's approximately 70 years old. I then asked where the emperor lives now......

What I heard was Paris. My immediate response was, "Huh!? He lives in Paris?!" They said it a couple more times and I finally understood...He lives in the palace. When I told them what I had heard, we all burst out laughing because it was so ridiculous and yet, very hard to distinguish the two words. After that we went into a 5 minute workshop of how to say Paris and palace, and whether they could tell the difference between the two. In reality, there's hardly any difference, its usually understood through context. But this was one time where context didn't kick in at all. Well, kind of. But Japanese people find it hard to say r's and l's, so its completely understandable. A great moment. Made the day.