LOL-- my H says “poy-em.” (He’s from the south.) It annoys me.
My parents always pronounced “hearth” to rhyme with “earth,” so that’s what my siblings and I always said.
Reporting back from evening spent with seven other women last night. All of us use washcloths, but two of their husbands don’t. All washed their kids with washcloths and, as far as they know, the kids still use them. The military (academy) provides our son with towels and washcloths, but he says some cadets don’t use the cloths. We host out of town guests frequently. Never had an unused washcloth. Perhaps this is regional?
H uses washcloths, I and the kids don’t. I’m not sure what that says about anything. Mostly toilet seats and covers are put down around this household most of the time. S generally has the seat and cover down in his place when we stay with him as well.
My daughters use wash clothes to wash their faces at night. But not in the shower. They say that’s pretty common among their friends. A few use those scrubby things.
“We host out of town guests frequently. Never had an unused washcloth. Perhaps this is regional?”
If I was your guest you woukd see that I was using the wash cloth. But I wouldn’t be using it in the shower but rather as a personal little towel at the sink.
At hotels I often use a washcloth - as a bib or napkin when we order take out and eat in (or if we’ve brought our own food to munch on). It works better than those super cheap ones take out places give you. 
When I was mega younger, a contemporary of mine said one day “You know, pickles look just like cucumbers, don’t they”? I laughed so hard.