Eez you deef?

My Grandpa Grider once told us this joke during our weekly Sunday visit.

An old man, while having a check up, asks the doctor if there was any way he could find out if his wife was hard of hearing.

The doctor replied, "If she won't come in for a hearing test, you could try talking to her when you get home. If you get no response, then move a little closer and repeat what you've said. If she doesn't hear you at first, you can gauge just how deaf she is by how close you get, until she does hear."

Armed with this information, he sets off home. Opening the front door he notices his wife in the kitchen down the hall, with her back to the door. Closing the door quietly, he says to his wife, "Hi honey, I'm home, what's for dinner?"

He gets no response, so he moves a little closer and says again, "Hi honey, I'm home, what's for dinner?" Still no response; so he enters the kitchen,and says, "Hi honey, I'm home, what's for dinner?" Again she doesn't respond, so he walks up to her touches her arm and says, "Hi honey, I'm home, what's for dinner?"

With that she reels around and shouts at him, "Chicken and potatoes, for the fourth time, you deaf old man!"

I can empathize with the old guy. I swear I'm partially deaf. At least hard of hearing. Maybe it's because I grew up in a house with seven loud kids and two loud parents, all clamoring to be heard above the rest.... No kidding, when my mom and I listened to football games on the radio we could identify my dad's voice whether he was on the field or in the stands!

When Matt and I were first married I'd be talking to him in what I considered to be a normal "indoor" voice after we woke up. I can't tell you how many times he'd wince and ask, "Can you please talk softer? You're hurting my ears." He, on the other hand, is often too quite for my shell shocked ears. I continually have to ask him to repeat himself as I draw closer; half the time I can't hear him until we're in the same room. To make matters worse, by the time I actually get within hearing range, he often decides he's done repeating himself, and it's just too bad so sad for me. I missed my chance. We're the classic tale my dad used to act out for us (minus the head blippin' of course).

'How you come on, den? Eez you deef?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Kaze if you is, I kin holler louder,' sezee.

Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

'You er stuck up, dat's w'at you is,' says Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'en I'm gwine ter kyore you, dat's w'at I'm a gwine ter do,' sezee.

Brer Fox, he sorter chuckle in his stummick, he did, but Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nothin'.

'I'm gwine ter larn you how ter talk ter 'spectubble folks ef hit's de las' ack,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Ef you don't take off dat hat en tell me howdy, I'm gwine ter bus' you wide open,' sezee.

Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

Brer Rabbit keep on axin' 'im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin' nothin', twel present'y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side er de head.

I'm a visual, hands-on kind of girl. I don't know if I'm not an auditory learner because of my less than sensitive ears, or visa versa, but I've noticed that I really struggle listening to people unless I'm interactively participating in the conversation. I frequently find myself nodding and saying, "uh hu" as someone's explaining a concept, though I truly have no idea what they're saying. In college I found that I couldn't remember a single thing my teachers said if I didn't write it down the moment it come out of their mouths. In one ear, out the other.

I've been noticing that this has seeped into my work habits as well. As my boss is giving me instructions, I'll find myself nodding and thinking, "oh I can remember that", but four or five instructions later I've quite forgotten what I was supposed to do with the invoice that was blah, blah, blah...if I haven't written it down or had some hands on experience with the concept he's trying to pass on. I need to work on that.