A survey for Heinz Cup Soups says almost 60% of us have an emotional attachment to our favourite mug and 31% are so protective they won’t let anyone else drink from it.

One in six will sulk if someone does use it and 38% would hide it in future to stop it happening again; 42% said their favourite mug was irreplaceable.

Food psychologist Christy Fergusson said: “We are incredibly attached to these simple everyday objects because, psychologically, they evoke a sense of warming, comfort and safety in us. When we touch something it almost becomes an extension of us. You can create a deeper connection to it and associate memories, emotions and feelings with objects.”

Which is a load of tosh.

You can borrow my screwdriver, no problem. Take the car, as long as you insure it. But you leave my mugs alone.

I have three. My tea mug is emblazoned with Manchester United. For coffee I use a Che Guevara mug, and my third is an Irish mug. This is used for tea, but only during the summer, when United aren’t playing.

Everyone in our house knows my mugs are sacrosanct.

There is no cross-jostling with them, even if my daughter has friends round. This rule became set in stone years ago when my wife actually offered tea to a builder in my Man U mug.

“Sorry, love,” he said. “I’m a Leeds United fan.”

At least he didn’t break it.

My daughter also learned the hard way about mug identity when she had handed a workman tea in her husband Ronan’s Man U mug at their farmhouse in Donegal.

The workman, like most chaps in Donegal, was a Man U fan, so had no complaints. The problem for Ronan was that the chap was mending the septic tank.

Ronan washed it and it’s back in the cupboard and, would you believe, no-one, but him has used it since.