In researching an author's claim to be internationally known, I was testing the Princess Pirate's knowledge of geography. The author had been published in Amsterdam, in Dutch presumably, but neither of us knew the word for Netherlands in French for her assignment.
Really, it was the Princess Pirate who made the joke. She said she didn't know which country it was in, French or English, but she was sure it was founded by a beaver. When I asked why, she reminded me of the city's suffix, -dam, and I laughed.
Then I elaborated the joke, saying that it couldn't be a beaver. It had to be a Hamster! But if a French person said it, they wouldn't be able to say the H at the beginning of the word, and that set us off giggling, imaging a city declared by a French beaver to be his friend's place, 'Amster-dam!
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