Toluwalade learns to pronounce 'flour'

Toluwalade loves to snack on pastries. Mention it, she is always at home with any, especially when served with a glass of chilled orange juice. Her last birthday was one to remember. She enjoyed herself with her classmates and teachers. The following weekend was her dad's opportunity to spoil the birthday girl. He drove her to her choice resort at the outskirts of the town and had fun. She never imagined her dad could go to such an extent, to make her 12th year birthday really special for her. She enjoyed all that the special moment afforded her. Her dad will be  45 in a few days. While on the resort, she vowed to surprise her dad on his birthday too. She knew she couldn't do it alone. She will enlist the help of her mom. 

"Happy birthday, dad!" she said to her father who is barely awake. She gently crawled towards him on the bed and sang a special birthday song for him. "Once again dad, happy birthday," she said. "I wanted to be the first to say happy birthday to you. I hope I beat your associates, friends and mom to it?" she asked in teenage-hood innocence. "Hmm, Hmm, Hmm, you did!" She screamed and hugged her dad. The mom all the while has been awake, keenly listening to father and daughter intimate conversation. "What's that scream all about?"she asked to register her presence. "Nothing mom," she said and excused herself. That wasn't all she had in stock of surprises for her dad. The plan to present him a cake—an home baked caked—was top on her agenda. On her way back home, she anxiously reminded her mom of the cake to be baked. 

"Mom, do we have all we need?"

"We've got nut-meg?"

"Yes, ma!" the mom answered teasingly.

"What of vanilla extract?" she continued to ask as she surfed the internet on her mom's phone for cake ingredients. 

"I should think we've got enough flor to bake." 

"That, my dear, is why I'm about to turn to the left, to the market," she said as she made the quick turning.

Toluwalade's very sensitive mom, meanwhile, took note of all her expressions. She possesses very stubborn, probing ears. If a paper falls to the ground, she probably could hear it did! When they got to the market, she didn't allow Toluwalade to stay back in the car, browsing the internet. Toluwalade was also happy she could see the market for the first time, too. She is only conversant with shopping malls. The shout of customer rents the air.

"What do you want to buy?" 

"I have what you want to buy,"said a compelling voice among the market women. 

"Come and buy from me," another woman gestures to them. 

She stopped by the stall of one Ibo woman. "Give me two measures of fine wheat flour," she requested, stressing the word 'flour'. Like mother, like daughter, Toluwalade became bothered that her mom mispronounced the word 'flour'. Mom is old school, she thought. At home, she asked, "mom, isn't 'flower' different from 'flour'? You asked your customer for 'flower' instead of 'flour'.

"Really?"

"You pronounced the words alike."

"Would you like to tell me how I should have pronounced it?"

"Flor, mom." 

The mom laughed and said to her, "that's not correct, my daughter. The word 'flour' and 'flower' are pronounced alike. The two words are homophones. You must have been taught homophones in school."

"Yes ma, but 'flour' and 'flower' were never mentioned to us.

"Now that I have mentioned it to you. It's never too late to learn, dear. Mind you, don't just hear from my mouth, go and get your dictionary right away and check up the pronunciation of the two words. Later in the day, I will give you a list of examples of words that are homophones." The list of words Toluwalade's mom gave her included:

I.   sew/sow/so

II.  cite/sight/site

III.  weak/week

IV.  story/storey

V.   flour/flower

VI.  stile/style

VII. roar/raw

VIII. one/won

IX.  now/noun

X.   know/no

XI.  meat/meet

XII. too/to/two

XIII. ewe/you

XIV. awe/or

XV. gaol (not goal)/jail

DISCUSSIONS 

Some commonly mispronounced words; for example: curtain/cotton; walk/work; lose/loose; word/ward/world, etc. don't fall in this category. In other words, they are not homophones.

You are advised to pay close attention to the words highlighted in blue, red, green, and yellow.

For the purpose of clarity, homophones are words which are different in meaning and spelling, but pronounced the same way. 

Did you take note of the use of homophones in the expression: It's never too late to learn, dear?