This happened in London It was November and the weather was very wet and cold. A Frenchman had caught a very bad cold. He coughed day and night, so he decided to go and get some medicine for his cough. As he did not know much English, he took out his dictionary and looked up the word "cough". But the dictionary did not tell him how to pronounce  the word. He thought it over and remembered that he had learned the word "plough". He remembered that it was pronounced[plav]. So he thought that c-o-u-g-h must be pronounced [kav]. Then he put on his coat and hat and went to a chemist's shop .When the man in the shop asked him what he wanted, the Frenchman said, "I want something for my 'COW' , please." The man in the shop looked at him. Had he heard him correctly? "I beg your pardon, sir?" he asked. The Frenchman repeated, "I want some medicine for my 'COW'." "For your cow?" asked the man, "are you a farmer?" "A farmer?" said the Frenchman in surprise, "What makes you think I'm a farmer? I come from Paris. I'm not a farmer. " "But where is your cow?" "It's here!" answered the Frenchman. He put his hand on his chest  and began to cough. "Here it is, " he said, "I've a very bad 'cow' here." Then the man in the shop understood what the Frenchman meant. He wanted some medicine for his cough. What made the man in the shop think the Frenchman was a farmer?
The Frenchman looked like a farmer. The word "cough" was pronounced [kau] by him. The Frenchman said he came from a farm in Paris. We can't learn about it from the story.