Cousins? Welcome to the wild world of genetics

[DFW]

Today is my elder nephew's birthday. Due to the very different origins of our wives, my brother's two sons don't look at all like they are related to my two daughters, but these are first cousins:

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[ScreamingMeemie]

1. I see a resemblance (perhaps it's the angle) between your eldest nephew, and your

daughter on the right. The face shape is the same, the mouth is the same, and feature placement are similar. Gorgeous kids!

[DFW]

2. Might indeed be the angle

In person, no one ever believes they are in the slightest bit related.

(My wife is a tall blond German, and my brother's wife is from Japan--and it shows).

[Chan790]

5. We have that problem in my immediate family.

My youngest brother (the one that I've called "snot" every day of his life) is jokingly referred to as the missing link because if you put him and I next to each other, people say "Yeah, they're siblings." If you put him and my younger brother (Old man, because he's been old and cranky since he was 7.) next to each other, "Yeah, they're siblings too."

If you put me and the old man next to each other, people say "Which one of you is adopted?" We're both nearly-equal appearance mixes of our parents but to mutual exclusion: I'm tall, he's short. He's dark like my mother's Native American and Arabic ancestors, I take after our father's Normand-Scottish roots: blond, blue-eyed, fair-skinned. He's lithe and ectomorphic, I'm stout and athletic. He runs fast, I deadlift cars.

[Wait Wut]

3. Our family was like that.

Dad's side:
Grandfather from Germany...white/blonde and blue-eyed.
Grandmother from Spain...raven hair, damn-near black eyes and olive skin.

Mom's side:
Irish...both the dark haired and redhaired variety.

I have a brother and a sister. None of us look anything alike. My sister and I both have auburn hair, but mine is much lighter. Brother is a toe-head. My eyes: Green, sister's: hazel, brother's: creepy light blue.

[OriginalGeek]

7. lol! that reminds me of my high school English teacher

She described somebody as a toe-head and I had never heard that term and thought it was hilarious and immediately began drawing cartoons in class of people with big toes for heads. She saw the pictures and laughed and explained what she said was "tow-head", describing a person whose hair was like tow.

1 : short or broken fiber (as of flax, hemp, or synthetic material) that is used especially for yarn, twine, or stuffing
2 a : yarn or cloth made of tow
b : a loose essentially untwisted strand of synthetic fibers

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear DFW!

You're not kidding that those kids don't look like they're related!

Hells bells, the two brothers don't even look like brothers!

Genetics is a fascinating topic. That was part of biology that I really enjoyed. Mixed dominance and all the rest held my attention when little else could.

Happy Birthday to your eldest nephew!

[Myrina]

6. I come from a family of 7:

2 brunettes, 2 red, 2 black and 1 blonde.
2 sisters under 5ft 6, 1 over 6 ft.

We all look like varying degrees of our parents or grandparents, but I aside from my eldest sister and me, I don't think anyone would take it as a 'given' that we're all siblings.

Shit happens.

[6000eliot]

8. Well, they do all appear to share the red eyes.

[DFW]

9. LOL!!

The flash is an equal opportunity disfigurer..........

[ceile]

10. Looks like me and my first cousins, but we actually do look alike.

8 of my 13 first cousins on my mom's side are half Mexican. We're all about the same height, build, facial features and curly/wavy haired- just different colors. Lots of blondes and lots of dark hair. I love my family.