Fred feared his wife Rhonda might not be hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Unsure how to approach her, he called the family doctor to discuss the problem.

The doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give him a better idea about her hearing loss.

Heres what you do, said the doctor, stand about 40 metres away from her and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 metres, then 20 metres and so on until you get a response.

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself: Im about 40 metres away. Lets see what happens. Then in a normal tone, he asks her: Honey, whats for dinner?

No response.

So the husband moves closer to the kitchen, about 30 metres from his wife and repeats: Rhonda whats for dinner?

Still no response.

Next he moves to the dining room where he is about 20 metres from his wife and asks: Honey, whats for dinner?

Again, no response. So he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 metres away. Honey, whats for dinner?

Once again, no response. So he walks up right behind her and with a sigh he asks: Rhonda, whats for dinner?

Damn it, Fred, for the fifth bloody time, its chicken!