A "mistaken word" story from Robert, of Baton Rouge:
"One of the requirements of my high school freshman English class was that we give a speech.
"The subject one of my classmates chose was 'the process of growing up.'
"He related several adventures and milestones. His closing sentence was, 'I enjoyed my childhood, and now I move along the path to adultery.'
"The class had a good laugh."
Escape artist
"Tales about children and school reminded me of the first day of kindergarten for husband Buddy's younger brother, Bobby," says Karen Poirrier, of Lutcher.
"The Poirrier family lived approximately one-half mile from Lutcher Elementary School. At the time the family's mode of transportation was a bicycle.
"On the first day of kindergarten, Bobby sat on the handlebars as his dad rode him to school.
"After dropping Bobby off and wishing him well on his first day of a new adventure, his dad returned home — to find Bobby sitting on the front porch swing.
"This continued two more times, ending when Bobby learned that Daddy's spanking him on his backside in front of other students was worse than getting spanked at home."
Raining pecans
"Your readers' pecan stories reminded me of my own," says Glenn Balentine.
"As a young lad, my friend Holt invited me to his aunt’s house in Pitkin to harvest her bumper crop.
"She had a small yard with numerous trees. Her hurricane fence had trapped pecans to a depth of one foot.
"We used shovels and rakes to fill containers. Later, we brought 100 pounds of pecans to our neighborhood market. We split $35, a princely sum in 1965."
Lost and found
Algie Petrere, of Central, tells a "modern problems" story:
"A friend told me she felt so stupid because she was just looking for her phone using her phone's flashlight.
"I told her I couldn't judge her. I recently couldn't find the remote for the cable box, and finally found I had set it in the phone charger.
"In my defense, the remote and phone are almost the same size and look very similar.
"I also felt stupid, but it did give me a good laugh."
Dead reckoning
"Several years ago, we were visiting with some Aggie friends from Texas," says Jim Nichols, of Lafayette.
"They handed me a cold drink with a 'koozie' that looked like some kind of animal.
"I asked them what it was supposed to be, and they told me it was an armadillo.
"I took the koozie off and put it back on upside down, feet up. Then I said, 'Now I recognize it.'"
Flower or breakfast?
"I grew up in north Baton Rouge," says Joyce Ryder.
"There was a lady on our street who was always very proud of her 'hot biscuits' (hibiscus). For the longest time, I thought that was the true name of the plant."
(My grandmother in Natchez, Camille DeMarco, used to call her hibiscus "hot biscuits," but it was a joke.)
Catty comments
Edwin Fleischmann, of Metairie, says, "One day when I was a kid (a long time ago), I overheard my mother and my aunt discussing the type of animal which was depicted in the shiny black lamp (remember those?) on the top of the TV.
"Mom says, 'It’s a line.'
"My aunt says, with a measure of contempt in her voice, 'No, it’s not a line, it’s a panthum!'
"It ended in a stalemate!"
Speaking Algerian
Charlie Anderson, of Shreveport, recalls "different terms I learned when my family moved to Algiers from South Carolina:
"Face bowl (lavatory); hose pipe (garden hose); gallery (porch); banquette (sidewalk); rench (rinse), etc."