Those weird quirks that people have

[Chrissi]

Picturing vivid and detailed images/movies in one's mind, wiggling one's ears, rolling one's tongue, rolling Rs, whistling, closing one eye and not the other... these are all things that some people can do and others can't.

But is there a purpose in any of these things? And how are they determined? Most of them are determined by genes, but why? And how? My dad can roll his tongue and whistle, but I can't.

I can see some of them being useful. Having a vivid mind can let you work out problems more easily. Whistling can attract attention from far away. Closing one eye can help if attacked. But... I can't do any of these things. Shouldn't they be standard in all humans without a disability preventing the action? Or maybe these things could be disabilities in theirselves.

If so, I'm disabled, then. The only thing out of my list in the first paragraph that I can do is roll Rs. But I can't whistle, or anything else.

And before anyone says it, NO, it's physically IMPOSSIBLE for me to whistle. I've tried everything, and God knows I've experimented on my own for hours on end. Some people just can't whistle, end of story, has to be. I doubt I will ever be able to whistle.

And my boyfriend has an incredible mind. He can turn things around in his head, play out detailed movies, etc. And don't get me wrong, I can picture things and play movies, but not in detail. Like really bad eyesight - what I see when I take off my glasses, minus the blurriness. All the detail is zap, gone, unless I focus on a particular part - like moving up close to something. But then I can't see the rest of the image. Basically, my head-vision is limited. I can only see a certain amount of stuff at one time.

Why can some people do these things and others can't? Is there a reason? A purpose? And what determines, other than genes, whether someone can do these or not? It can't be parents, as far as I can tell.

[GuidoHunter]

I think many of those things can be genetic, but that the genes might have skipped over you. My mom's quite double-jointed in her fingers, and so are my sister and I, but not my brother.

All those things are prolly just visible maifestations of small mutations that occur during DNA recombination. Some might be successful and get passed down, while others may just be gimp and get destroyed. My best guess is simple evolutionary changes.

My quirks: I can bend (without the aid of another hand) my thumb ninety degrees back and push it to be completely antiparallel to the base, I can touch the tips of my index and middle fingers while spreading the knuckles apart about an inch and a half, I can individually manipulate my big and pinky toes, and I can flip my tongue over both ways. Lemme tell you the ladies love that last one...

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[zildjian133]

Your boyfriend with the vivid imagination has nothing to do with genes, it takes practice and psychadelic drugs will definitely expand your imagination. When I was a kid my friend and I and his dad tried to think of different funny names like stupid sock and shit, if you practice with your imagination it'll eventually be broader.

[Chrissi]

Originally Posted by zildjian133

Your boyfriend with the vivid imagination has nothing to do with genes, it takes practice and psychadelic drugs will definitely expand your imagination.

Umm, he doesn't practice. He just does it.

[Laharl]

Quirks are what make the world go 'round. Without them, the only thing seperating one person from another is knowledge.

Personally, I have some strange ones. Like, I can't stand going barefoot.

[Chrissi]

Oh oh oh, off topic, but how can you not stand going barefoot? Humans are meant for being barefoot. Haven't you ever walked through cold wet grass in the summer? Ran across sand after coming out of water? Had road tar stuck to your soles?

Do you have flat feet? You'll get back problems.