Sounds like you have your answer, but it made me want to share a story of word mix-ups, too.
Back when my dog Snoopy and one of his sisters were about 9 weeks old, I had been teaching them to sit for treats and their meals. We had a penned indoor area where we trained. One day, one of them pooped in the pen, and managed to run through it and track it all over the floor (lovely image, I know). So I grabbed some paper towel to wipe up the worst of it quickly, and the pups thought my bending down was an invitation for play time... so they started jumping all over my arms, further spreading the poo, knocking the soiled towel out of my hand and grabbing it as a trophy, etc.
I got the towel back, stood up to asses how dirty my hands were, and in frustration called the puppies "Little Sh-ts" ... at which point both of them immediately stopped and planted their butts on the floor, looking up at me in expectation of treats!
There was a moment where I just looked at them quizzically wondering what I'd missed, and then I realized what they had thought they heard. I'm sure they were highly confused, but I couldn't help busting up laughing!
And then they got treats lol.