Deaf in the family

[MarmiteCoriander]

I received an email at work from a customer that said they 'had deaf in the family.' It puzzled me till I assumed/guessed they meant a death!?! I'm not British, so unsure how to answer. Would you also assume they mean a death?

Yes I would. The 'th' sound in this country seems to be dying out so, inevitably, some people will spell phonetically.

Depending on your job, they could mean deafness, I suppose.

I have this problem in my job but the other way around. When I say I work for deaf charity, people think I mean death