Chit Chat

What's your Family Signature Trait?

edited August 2013 in Chit Chat

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Anniversary

Re: What's your Family Signature Trait?

  • Our lips on my dad's side..... there is a painting of one of our relatives from the 1700s and she has the same lips, even.  
  • My dad's side: SUPER high metabolism
    My mom's side: short temper and a looooong memory (they all very much hold grudges)
    Soon-to-be Mrs. Kent
  • I touch everything too. I shop based on touch. I eat based on texture. I will wander like a ferret in those engraving stores because everything is just. so. shiny.

    My moms side of the family gave me my ability to drink. They are Irish and there is not a person in my family who doesn't drink. We aren't lushes, but we certainly have a good time. Health-wise, my moms side gave my allergies. Everyone in the spring/fall is a nasty mess so we try to avoid getting together outside otherwise no conversation is had at all, just tissue-passing and sneezing.

    My dads side of the family certainly gave me my snark. His whole side of the family is absurdly sarcastic and I feel terribly sorry for anyone who hears us speaking to each other out in public - we sound like we hate each others guts, but it's a very strong love. Health wise, arthritis. Everyone aches at we like to b!tch about it.
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    'Next time, just fart.' - BriSox81
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  • All I can say is the bad luck from my dad's side. My aunt jokes about it all the time, when she married my dad's brother, she was cursed with bad luck.

    Thanks Dad!
    Anniversary
  • Horrible drama.

  • Does being loud count?  Whenever new people come to family gatherings, we have to make the disclaimer, "We're not fighting; we're just loud." 
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • I talk a lot. I could go on tirelessly forever. I also have anecdotes with triggers that will prompt me to recite a story in exactly the same way whenever triggered.

    My family is worse than me and they feed off each other. Holidays are continuous hours of speech. My mother talks until people leave the table because they need to get away.  She interrupts people and conversations and will start talking about something completely different. My grandmother is worse and much louder. My dad will talk but not give anyone a chance to comment. By the time an hour has passed, he shifted topics a few times and any comments were forgotten or no longer timely.  My parents all have lots of anecdotes with lots of triggers too...except my mom tends to make a lot of stuff up and embellish A LOT. It's kind of a hobby for my uncle and I to call her on it. It bothers me a lot that she does it, especially if I was present during the event she's talking about and I know what really happened.

    It's something I spent a lot of time over the past 10 years working on implementing pauses, waiting for responses, and shifting topics or asking questions, or simply shutting up....especially professionally. I'm often consciously thinking about it, it doesn't come naturally. My coworkers have been with me 9 years and will all tell you how far I've come in that time.   I don't filter myself with fiance or my parents though.

    When ever I introduced a boyfriend to my parents, they all made a comment about how they "understand" where I came from and why I am the way I am.

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    You'll never be subject to a cash bar, gap, potluck wedding, or b-list if you marry a Muppet Overlord.

  • Oh yeah... WE are like the family in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" only we are not Greek.... LOL..... we sure can talk and have very colorful characters... BUT, I am actually the "Aunt Voula" type... 
  • Every woman on my dad's side has obnoxiously large hips and tiny everything else. Including my sister and cousins. Thanks, dad.
  • On my dads side, when you're concentrating really hard, your tongue moves back and forth quickly.
  • My mom's side- education and intelligence. I don't know if careers can be a family trait, but my grandparents and 3/4 of their children (everyone except my uncle) work(ed) in schools. I am currently getting my master's degree. So this makes family events very... I don't know how to describe it. Educated? We talk about current events, the school system, government bills... you name it. But while at my husband's family we cook and watch tv, at my family we talk and play trivia. Does that make sense?

    As for my dad's side. Sleeping. I'm sure there are other things, but it's hysterical. Every single one of us is a sleeper. My aunt posts pictures of my cousins in the car because they literally fall asleep every time they go anywhere. I do it too. One thanksgiving every one of my 5 uncles took a post-turkey nap (and I know it was more than just the tryptophan). It drives my mom crazy whenever she has to host anything because she always has to make sure the beds and couches are made up for nap times. 
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  • edited August 2013

    Post removed due to GBCK

    Don't make me mobilize OffensiveKitten

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    Anniversary

  • I love your stories, Pele.
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • I can't help but think physical traits since both sides of my family have several of the same ones: light blue eyes (seriously: me, both parents, three of their four parents, etc.), a tendency towards gallstones (everyone on both sides over 40 has had their gallbladder out, IIRC), and we're mostly short. There are one or two tall ones in the bunch, but I was never expected to top 5 feet (I'm 5'4"!) and was actually about to start growth hormones when the doctor suddenly decided I was not a dwarf after all.

    For a non-physical trait, we're pickers. We pick on and tease each other all the time, but Lord help anyone outside the family who tries to make fun of any of us because there will be hell to pay. ;)
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  • Pele, I LOL'd and thought of Kevin McCallister.
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    You'll never be subject to a cash bar, gap, potluck wedding, or b-list if you marry a Muppet Overlord.

  • 1) My mom's side is irish and italian catholic. Lots of guilt, lots of alcoholism. Mom came out with very little of the latter and a lot of the former, but  she mostly sheltered me from the rest of her family until very recently. The weird thing is every single woman from that side of the family has the same face. When you compare me to my mom, aunt, cousin, grandmother, great aunts, etc, we all have the same goddamn face if you compare us at similar ages. But all the women on her side are under 5'3 and I'm 5'8 so it's odd. Everyone is obsessed with food.

    2) My dad's side is russian jew. Again, lots of guilt, but my dad doesn't really give a fck so I don't think he passed much of that on to me. Parkinson's is on my dad's side, so that should be fun for the future. Everyone on my dad's side is also short - my dad is only 5'10 - so again, I'm an anomaly. 

    FI and I joke all the time because he's half russian jew/half black, but he looks entirely white (which is rare for the, as he puts it, "halfricans") and so do 2 of his 3 brothers. He's also the only one over 6 ft (his other brothers are all shorter than I am). So we think we'll end up with like one kid who looks white, one black, one tall, one short, etc etc. It will just look like we adopted. But I'll bet money if we have daughters that she has my same goddamn face. 
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  • On my mom's side: inability to end a conversation (I can't tell you how many times one of us will say "okay let me go" and then get side tracked into a whole different conversation), great hair, love for reading, inability to put up with BS.

    On my dad's side: alcoholism/addictive personality, sarcasm/quick wit, bad joints, great hair, really REALLY loud laugh (it's obnoxious how loud my dad and I are when we laugh), my southern accent
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_whats-your-family-signature-trait?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:90b918e5-67be-4b3f-9f8a-aa71854e03afPost:3eb4782f-0e77-4ce1-b7bf-4e4929802673">Re: What's your Family Signature Trait?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Heehee, I like seeing everyone's family traits.  Call me nosey, but I love that kind of stuff. My wandering one has been no end of frustration to my parents when I was small. I even epic-level embarrassed them once and got the police called on them (oops).: Every year for Xmas, we drove to IN to see my grandparents.  Along the way, my parents would always stop at a winery (I think in OH).  This particular winery had awesome stone sculptures in a side-garden that I always would stare at enviously from the car.  Well, this particular year, my parents decided to leave me in the car because they thought I was sleeping.  I apparently broke under pressure of "ooo, interesting rocks", got out of the car, and went to play on them for a few minutes. When I went to go back to the car, it was gone. I was so used to being seperated from my parents by now, that I calmly went inside and announced that I was lost to the staff.  They were completely freaked out, and called the state police.  Apparently my parents didn't realize that I wasn't sleeping in the back until they were over an hour down the road, so I was there for a long time.  Child protective services were called (they gave me goldfish crackers, I remember really liking them). My poor poor poor parents finally got back, and then had to explain to the police and CPS why they left their 7 year old kid at a winery alone for 2 hours.  As well as why she was so used to this sort of thing  that she was completely unruffled by it (hey, I had crackers, my day was good). To this day, they squirm in embarrassment and give me stink-eye when it's brought up.
    Posted by Peledreamsofrain[/QUOTE]

    <div>Hijack:</div><div>
    </div><div>When we were kids, my grandparents had a little beach shack in the Outer Banks. It was DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM PUTT-PUTT. Like a kid's dream come true. Every year the WHOLE family (read: lots of cousins) would spend a week there together. </div><div>
    </div><div>One day when I was about 3 years old, we'd gotten all-day Putt-Putt wristbands. After playing for awhile, the grown ups decided it was beach time. I was terrified of the ocean (hey, it was big water that never ended and was loud. Sue me.) so apparently, I decided to leave. My aunt got up to walk back home and I just followed her without her knowing it. When traffic stopped for her to cross, I guess they just assumed I was tagging along with her. She went to the left, to go to the house. I went to the right, to go back to Putt-Putt. </div><div>
    </div><div>So while I'm there whacking away at balls (heh heh), my parents have formed a frantic search party, combing the beach looking for me. No one thought I'd actually be in the water; they were more concerned that I'd been kidnapped - or more realistically - just left with a stranger. I had no fear of people. You wouldn't even have to bribe me with candy or tempt me with a lost puppy, I would've just gotten in the van.</div><div>
    </div><div>At some point, one of my uncles was sent back to the house to rally the rest of the family to help look. Thankfully, he noticed me across the street at Putt-Putt. I'm pretty sure I got a lot of hugs and a spanking later...</div>
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  • On my mom's side, they all get alzheimers (oh boy!) and drink insane amounts of coffee and see nothing wrong with it...(hello grandma and her 4 pots of coffee a day!) They also have a lot of mood disorders :( Uncle suffered from extreme paranoia (would threaten to shoot the mailman for coming near the mailbox), and my other uncle has tons of anxiety and is also starting to lean more towards paranoia! It's pretty scary. Supposedly their dad was the same way. 


    Oh my dad's side, we have a very 'distinct' look. I look just like my dad, and he looks just like his dad, and I'm not sure that's a good thing! People that know my extended family immediately know I "must be a [Lastname]" based on my facial features. We're also super tall with disproportionately long legs. 

    Personality-wise, on my dad's side we're all snarky/sassy and addicted to sugar like nobody's business. I used to have an arrangement with my grandma that at birthday parties, I would give her all my frosting and she would give me all her cake, that's how much she loved sugar! She and I shared a lot of the same food preferences...loved cranberry juice, picked out tomatoes in salads, no condiments except ketchup, can't get enough salt, etc. 


  • From both of my parents we all got crooked pinky fingers. From my dad they will progressively shift over onto our ring finger. Not sure who we get it from but all of my siblings and I had/have a gap in our front teeth. I must be the perfect blend of each of my parents. When I am with just my dad, people comment how I look like him and the same with my mom. However if I am out with both, I am told I look like neither of them. I can see features of my mom's sisters in me especially in pictures.
    You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back. - Barbara DeAngelis
  • My dad's side of the family is an unhumanly high tolerance for pain, olive skin that tans very easily and small hands with the women...

    My mother's side is a high metabolism, small feet, a bad left shoulder....

    I am a mix between the two... I have all my dad's traits and most of my mother's... As far as appearance goes though I have my mom's petite frame but my dad's complexion... I am told that I look more like my dad but when people see my mother and I side by side they say that they can see some of her in me as well...
  • Oh this is fun!

    From my dad's side: The ability to remember completely useless information.  We also have ADD-like conversations that are impossible for people to follow.  I think it's because we have so many inside references that we don't need to say, and to an outsider, it would appear as though we've skipped part of the conversation.  This is especially true with how my brother and I interact!  We kind of make it a game sometimes to confuse people.  My dad's side is very hot-headed, lots of drama and poor communication.  I grew up in that world, but I'm so thankful I'm not like that.

    My mom's side: Generations of eating raw hamburg.  Gross, I know.  My mom does it, my pepere did it, etc.  I'm trying to stop.  Best thing from my mom's side is the EYES.  The beautiful blue eyes from my memere and pepere.  A lot of my cousins have them, as well as my brother and I.  I hope some of my kids get them too so we can pass them along!

    Both sides: My immediate family was always late for stuff.  Hated it.  My brother in his family are often late now, and I'm trying SO hard to not do it.  I HATE being late because it was so embarassing growing up.  Also, both sides of my family are REALLY REALLY stubborn.  That's the biggest thing.  I'm French-Canadian and Swiss.  I tell people we love cheese and are very stubborn, and it's the truth!
  • My dad's side: Height. I'm 6' and my great aunt was 6'2". My grandmother was 5'10". Thick dark brown hair thanks to my grandmother's genetics. I also get my mean and take crap from no one attitude from my grandfather and my dad. My piano playing skills are from my dad's side going way back to when my family was in Poland. My work ethic from my grandfather (but I could attribute both sides of the family to this)

    My mom's side: Big boobs, drinking skills, being thrifty (my grandmother fed my mom and aunt cooked ground beef with only salt and pepper for years with a side of potatoes because it was cheap) and being cold and distant to family you don't like because of their success (I'm on the receiving end of this from my maternal grandparents), keeping secrets is also a great family trait on that side of the family.

    I think I get a lot from my parents now. My mom is an awesome cook and I learned (and keep learning) a lot from her she also has an awesome sense of humor that I have as well. My dad gives awesome work and life advice that he's learned along the way. My parents LOVE to travel and I get that from them. I'm jealous of their retired adventures in their RV.

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  • Dad's side:  Addictive personalities, depression, bipolar disorder, sleep disorders.  Lots of thick, curly, luxurious hair, even into old age (no baldness anywhere).  The "Maryanowski Lisp" (on the letter S).  A preference for the luxurious, unusual, and expensive.  Rampant stubbornness. Education - all 11 of my grandparents grandkids have bachelor's degrees, 4 have masters, and 2 have PhDs. Both grandparents and all 5 of their kids completed at least a bachelors.  And the attitude of 'there's always room for one more at the table'. 

    Mom's side: Alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease.  Weenie thin hair.  Stubbornness to the point of damage.  This weird thing where when we run, our left arm pumps up and down, no matter how fast or slow we're going.  Green thumbs.  Lead feet (and lots of speeding tickets). And a 4 generation strong tradition of all women starting their period on their wedding day, regardless of whether it's time for it or not, and in recent years, regardless of birth control method.   
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