I'm in the kitchen making dinner. The oven is clanking (I really should get that fixed), the kettle is boiling, the fan is blowing. Isabel comes in, clutching "The Ha Ha Bonk book". My heart sinks.

Izzy: I've come to entertain you!
Me: Oh joy.
Izzy: Why does a goldfish always take a spare pair of trousers?
Me: I don't know.
Izzy: In case it gets a hole in one!
Me: (bemused) Erm... a hole in one?
Izzy: Yes!
Me: (the penny drops) Ohhhhhhhhh you meant a GOLFER, not a GOLDFISH!
Izzy: (frowning) That's what I said.
Me: Oh. Sorry.

It's a running joke in our house that people (me, in particular, but both Mattgreen and Izzy are guilty occasionally as well) mishear things in a spectacular fashion. It has given us many laughs and annoyed Mattgreen on many occasions. I've actually stopped repeating back what I think I heard because his ridicule can be too much to bear.

A few moments later, Mattgreen comes in through the back door.

Me: Hi baby, hey guess what? Izzy just told me this hilarious joke!
Mattgreen: Go on then...
Me: Why does a goldfish always take a spare pair of trousers?
Mattgreen: (thinks for a moment, then answers hesitantly) In case it gets a hole in one?
Me: How did you know that!

Either Mattgreen is overfamiliar with "The Ha Ha Bonk Book" or he has started to get inside my brain. I don't know which is worse!