Years ago, I remember riding in the car with my mother-in-law and her elderly friends. She has always had hearing difficulties and her friends were equally challenged. Their conversations were hilarious as one of them might suggest in a loud voice that we stop for some “peaches” and the others think that she said something about “pizza.” This communication gap is now starting to affect some of my retirement friends, as I learned yesterday at lunch. Here was their conversation that morning:
Wife: Hey dear, just an f.y.i. – I’ll be leaving at 9 this morning.
Husband: Where are you going?
Wife: The chiropractor
Husband: Why are you going to Fuddruckers?
Wife: What?? No the chiropractor!
Husband: Why is the chiropractor at Fuddruckers?
Wife: Oh my god…I’m leaving now.
Fuddruckers doesn’t even sound like chiropractor, nor does it have the same number of syllables. At least she shared this story with a great sense of humor. She’s already asked him several times to get a hearing aid, instead he went out and bought a new high-end amplifier for his stereo system. We each have our priorities, I guess, so if he turns the sound up loud enough, he hears just fine.
My wife only finds frustration with my hearing difficulties. I’m not yet convinced that they are all physical. She might say, “you need a hearing aid” and I might respond with “why do I need a Band Aid?” Isn’t that just a simple misunderstanding?
It was ‘peach’s for ‘pizza’; not sister. Correction. 🙂