Justice or Mercy? Flattery or Warts?

Have you ever had your portrait painted (or drawn, sculpted etc)? Where do you fall on the Cromwell-Hughes spectrum?

Peter Lely - Portrait of Oliver Cromwell - WGA12647
Mr. Lely, I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.”
Oliver Cromwell


“When having my portrait painted I don’t want justice, I want mercy.”
Billy Hughes

The Trouble with Homonyms

Have you ever had one of those awkward experiences where it turns out that the exact same word means different things in different varieties of English – or, if it comes to that, any other language? What was the word – and what were the consequences?