Bobbi, my mum asked exactly the same thing whilst we were at a family dinner. My folks were chatting about jewellery and my mum said she wanted a pearl necklace. This set me and my brothers off like we were 12 again.
The thing is the more we laughed, the more she said things like "Why do you find it so funny, i'd love a pearl necklace off your Dad", so we laughed even more.
She demanded to know what a pearl necklace was, and none of us were brave enough to tell our 51 year old Mother what it was