[dljordan]

"Ever since EVE asked ADAM "Does this Fig Leaf make me look fat?" man has developed selective hearing. It's a matter of survival."

Since we're descended from hunters I think it involves concentrating on the matter at hand (stalking game) and ignoring extraneous interference (birds, tree noise, etc.).

A modern equivalent would be me watching 24 and my wife nattering in my ear about remodeling the house.

[Killborn]

That makes a lot of sense. Cool! I knew there's some prehistoric root to this!