Going deaf?

We were at some friends house for supper and I was in their kitchen when her husband Rod (who is a bit hard of hearing himself) said to me "what time is it then?"   

A bit surprised and thinking he was dropping a big hint and we had overstayed our welcome, I looked at my watch and said "oh, its 10 past 10".  

He was helpless laughing and said "What?".  

I said (looking again at my watch), "It is.   It is 10 past 10".

He managed to croak that what he had said (trying to put on a silly Scottish accent) was "what tartan are they then?"  (meaning my trousers)

Oh dear - a sign of things to come? and come to think of it, we always have the subtitles on telly these days....