We're Carrots, Aren't We?

Funny story:  This is our next door neighbor's house.  They have been renovating their front yard the last few weeks.  I so wish I had a before picture.  It used to be so overgrown that you couldn't even see the front door from the street.  They took out so much of the growth and put in the walkway and the stonework.  It looks beautiful. 

Ken's talked to the workers frequently during the process and made friends with them.  Then, the other evening, we saw the lady of the house out and went over and told her how beautiful it looks.  She said it was just out of control and she had to take care of it.  Then she thanked Ken as they've seen him out in their yard several times pulling their weeds.  Now, all of this is in Japanese, of course, so I'm not getting much.  But then I recognized a word Ken said, "Ninjin."  The lady looked puzzled and he said it again, a sentence with "ninjin" in it.  Ninjin means carrot in Japanese.  I was puzzled, too, so I asked "Carrot?"  Ken then realized his mistake and quickly changed it to "Rinjin."  Rinjin means neighbor.  He was saying, "We're neighbors, aren't we?" when she thanked him for pulling her weeds.  But what he really said was, "We're carrots, aren't we?"

We all had a good laugh, and then he said to our neighbor, "My wife doesn't even speak Japanese and she recognized my mistake!"  It's fun when, on those very rare occasions, I can correct his Japanese!