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barmar, on 2012-August-09, 07:54, said:
Actually, it's BECAUSE he's hard of hearing that I think he's less likely to ask for repetition. If he asked this every time he only heard part of something, he'd be doing it all the time, inconveniencing everyone around. People with disabilities sometimes try harder so as not to be a burden.
On the other hand, if you have normal hearing, you don't feel self-conscious about asking someone to repeat themselves on the infrequent occasions when it's needed (you unconsciously assume it's their fault for not speaking clearly in the first place).
On the other hand, if you have normal hearing, you don't feel self-conscious about asking someone to repeat themselves on the infrequent occasions when it's needed (you unconsciously assume it's their fault for not speaking clearly in the first place).
I am deaf in my left ear and hearing only part of things is a normal occurrence. I got sick of asking people to repeat themselves long ago, now I just rely on context to figure out how the isolated bits I hear all fit together. I imagine that guy does that as well.
Also something similar happened to me a little while ago. We play 1♦ shows exactly four spades and a 1♥ response is a relay, 10+ points. When the lady on my right asked what 1♥ was, I said, "10+ points, any shape, says nothing about hearts" but she heard something like "shows 10+ points, any shape with lots of hearts" so she declined to bid her AQJT5 heart suit and got upset at the end when it turned out they had a nine-card fit. I was as apologetic as I could possibly be, and lucky she didn't complain to the director. Still not sure what the best explanation is, if I say "10+ points, any shape" carefully avoiding using the word "hearts" they sometimes assume any shape that includes four hearts. I also play weak takeouts over 1NT, but I usually say "to play" when asked, rather than mention transfers, since I can imagine that scenario happening :-)
