OPINION: “STOP mumbling.”

Being deaf in one ear, I am forever telling my husband to speak clearly. His mumbling really gets on my nerves, so I was surprised to discover that women find men who mumble - like Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral - more attractive. Research in the US found that, from a ‘sexual selection standpoint’, men with less clear speech were more alluring to females.

Maybe my husband knows this already and is trying to soften me up, although after 27 years of marriage, I very much doubt that’s the case.

His mumbling is usually in response to some misdemeanor and he’s desperately trying to come up with excuses.

Sexually alluring, it’s certainly not.