[SiMoN!]

You wouldn't think a four-letter name could cause such mayhem.
Shilpa and Jo were two starlets divided by a common language this afternoon, as the pair tried to establish the correct way to pronounce Dirk's name.


We suggest 'Dirk' to rhyme with 'work', but hey...

"What are they laughing at?" Jo asked Shilpa as they listened to Dirk and Carol in the kitchen.

"They're saying I pronounce Dirk's name as duck," giggled Shilpa. "Dirk? Duck? Deuck?" she said.

"Dirk?" repeated Jo.

"Duck?" said Shilpa as the two fell about.

"It sounds like you call him Duck," laughed Jo.

"Duck Benedict. It sounds like a dish," chuckled Shilpa. "I don't call him Duck, I call him Deuck."

"Duck?" repeated Jo again.

"Jermaine," called Shilpa, corralling the Jackson into the fray. "How do you say 'Dirk'?"

"Dirk," he replied.

"See, he says it the same way."

"You say Duck?" asked Jo.

"Dirk? Duck?" repeated Jermaine sounding out the options, before drawling: "Oh, Dirrrrk."

Hearing his name, Dirk's ears pricked up and he looked at the women quizzically.

"We're doing name pronunciations. Dirk," explained Shilpa, before her and Jo repeated his name, one Mumbai, one Romford.

"I like yours better," chose Dirk. "I like accents."

"But how do you say it?" said Shilpa.

"It's got a hard R," confirmed Dirk. Wonder if he rolls his Rs too...