Any interesting "quirks"?

[jpapadpapa]

Okay, that last thread got me thinking about quirks, for some reason. I have a weird one--which is just to be assumed when you mix the traits of "artist" with "geek."

I "catch" laughs like most people catch colds. If I am around someone I like long enough, I start to laugh like them without meaning to. It is quite odd and probably freaks people out. One day I noticed I was laughing like my ceramics teacher. I've also picked up the laughs of my best friend, sister, and numerous other people. But, now that I'm a stay-at-home mom and don't get out much, I've finally developed my own laugh, which includes a very unattractive snort. I think I need to meet some new people soon--I'm in need of a laugh makeover.

[James]

God I'd hate that! My best friend has his laugh change every few years, it started with a laugh kinda like a seagul noise which he changed it to, then he just stopped breathing when he laughed, causing alot of pain, and now he laughs like a seagul again.

So, I really don't think I want either laugh.

[Rhea]

I pick up accents very easily. Particularly southern accents. Three days in New Orleans and I had a distinct drawl. Must've been all the sweet potato pie I consumed.

[James]

I've spent 2 years in German class, and I still can't roll my Rs even though they're used in almost every sentence you speak.

Ich habe frustuck gegessen<--used even in saying that "I have eaten breakfast"

Roll up the Rim to win

[sdarken]

How about a list of stupid things you can do. (You know, the sort of things you can do at a party that nobody else can do..)

For example,

I can move one eyebrow up and down while leaving the other down.

I can roll my eyes all the way back do only the white part is showing.

I can make the sound of a mosquito. (You know, the noise they make when you are trying to get to sleep and one is trying to land on your ear and have dinner.)

[Jan]

Originally posted by sdarken
I can make the sound of a mosquito.

Simon swatter

[Rhea]

Hmm. I can imitate just about any kind of animal that vocalizes. I'm especially good at dogs and cats (even dogs and cats fall for it).

I have prehensile toes.

I can curl my tongue into a tube *and* I can bend the tip backward. Apparently the combination of both these abilities is something of a genetic rarity.

I have partially double-jointed hips. (Which by the way has nothing to do with the flexibility of the joints, it's flexibility of the ligaments. Or maybe it's the tendons. Not sure.)

I can hum and whistle at the same time.

I can make a vocalization (hubby refers to it as "The Noise") that is extremely loud and high-pitched and quite fearsome. Unfortunately it also hurts like hell to do it.

But I would trade all these abilities if I could only wiggle my ears.

[James]

/me looks up prehensile in dictionary
Uhm... why would your toes be adapted for grabbing?

I can curl my tongue into a tube *and* I can bend the tip backward. Apparently the combination of both these abilities is something of a genetic rarity.

Hmm... I don't really know what that would look like, but personally I'm able to basically crunch up the tip of my tongue into a few kind of rolls.

I can wiggle my ears....and my scalp. Since I have quite alot of very curly hair (basically an afro) it looks pretty funny to see my entire mass of hair move.

I'm able to bend my right thumb onto my knuckle. It's a developed talent. I have never broken a bone or snapped a tennon or anything, so this must be developed. I was sitting in school one day and I kept on forcing it farther and farthing (quite painfully) and I kept on doing it until either my hand developed the ability to do it without any damage, or until my thumbs nerves in that section were destroyed

Uhm.. I can balance guitars on my chin easily. Uh, sticks are easy too, but chairs are usually quite heavy.

I can juggle, with 3 balls in 2 hands, or 2 balls in one.

One of my brothers can bend both his knees backwards.

[Rhea]

Having prehensile toes comes in handy when I've dropped a pen as I can pick it up without bending over.

Humans, descended from monkeys, possess traits, some more common than others, with their simian ancestors. Gorillas have prehensile feet also. You've probably seen film footage of them holding food in their feet.

Monkeys lived in trees, jumping from limb to limb and grabbing on with not only their hands but also their feet. Having feet and toes that can grasp strongly is a real advantage for tree dwellers. If you have any doubt compare the ease of climbing a tree barefoot vs. climbing it with shoes on.

Still, much cooler to be able to wiggle your ears, or scalp, or nose.

[Czar]

Ears and scalp, no problem. The wiggly nose thing just isn't happening as well for me as it does for Samantha and Tabitha, though.

I have prehensile toes, too, but I never considered that it might be a rare trait. Does that mean we're a step back in the evolutionary path, Rhea? Are we man-sloths? Is there any hope at all?

[Rhea]

Czar, I honestly don't know if it's a rare trait or not. I could try and find some research on it but I doubt anyone would fund a study of that type. Well, I wouldn't anyway. I'm astonished that someone funded a study about the tongue rolling and bending ability.

Maybe we could have a poll on GV. We could ask...

"Can you pick up objects with your toes?"

Could be interesting to see the results, although they'd be unscientific. This is hardly an ideal test group as it's heavily weighted toward the analytical, technical types.

Possessing a rare trait doesn't mean you're a throwback. It just means that you were lucky (or unlucky) enough to inherit that gene from both your parents.

Here's a dictionary of words relating to genetics.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gene

I haven't read the whole thing but it's not exactly up to date. For instance there is no such thing as a "...gene for blue eyes." If anyone's interested in an explanation as to how eye color is coded genetically I'd be happy to attempt a simple explanation.

BTW, sloths are not simians, prosimians, or apes for that matter.

[James]

Heheh, there's no specific allele (gene) for eye color. There's several alleles which dictate it's color.

Alleles are either Dominant or recessive and alleles have 2 genotypes in them. Dominant will show up if it's 50% dominant and 50% recessive. This means if you have the ability to roll your tongue you'd have Tt if you had 50% dominant and 50% recessive which is called heterozygous. The rest of people are either homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive being either TT or tt. Each parent gives one genotype and if the child has tt they won't roll their tongue and they'll have a recessive phenotype (result) and if they have Tt or TT they will, and will have a dominant phenotype.

Feels good to be doing Grade 10 science again, haven't done it since the evil teacher in Grade 6 made us do it. Needing to be able to name all the organelles, their functions, dissect squids, and be able to formulate chemical compounds shouldnt be done in Grade 6, but atleast I can remember lots of it

[Rhea]

Good job, tnt!

Here's some more info that's interesting. Apparently green eyed folks have a little something extra happening genetically.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasc...9/bio99730.htm

EDIT: Oh yeah, how about working up a Punnett Square in your free time and posting it here?

[Czar]

Originally posted by Rhea
BTW, sloths are not simians, prosimians, or apes for that matter.

Yeah, I know, but man-sloth sounds so much cooler than chimp-boy. Might have to go and see if it fits in the occupation field on my tax return form.

[Rhea]

Yeah, I know, but man-sloth sounds so much cooler than chimp-boy.

Fine, you do that. I wanna be Gorilla Girl.