Oh, no question about that. When I was a kid, I tended to assume that my parents always were available to drop what they're doing and engage with you.

(And which, incidentally, is surely a reason why many parents are finding working from home during quarantine to be so difficult.)

Your question may have touched a nerve, if he was getting older and no longer could see sharp.

Or he just wanted to be flat on the couch, without being disturbed.

Maybe he was like me who had some degree of hearing loss when I grew older and could no longer hear C sharp.

musical notes repeat once every doubling of frequencies, so there are many C#s spread throughout the range of human hearing. The only way someone could be unable to hear c# would be if they were unable to hear at all.

Your parent and grandparent comments were (imo, clever) word plays on C# / see sharp and back to _hear_ c# (instead of see sharp).

Edit: Point being--scientific accuracy not required. :)

oops!