My favourite to teach French students was always "Henry," said Henry's mother, "if you don't hang your hat on the hanger in the hall I will hit you on the head with a hard heavy hammer and your howls will be horrible to hear."

Their favourite to get me stumped was "Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont elles seches, archiseches?"

But actually when I was working at a hostel in central Paris it was enough to say the address to people ... Dix Rue de Richelieu. No problem if you're not speaking with a French accent, of course.

Anne