My paternal grandfather died when I was 3 months old, I obviously have no memory of him though I have seen photos.
He was a foreman in a brickmakers and he always wore a weskit or waistcoat.
Every time he stood up he straightened his weskit in the same way, he grasped the bottom edge and tugged it left right left and two pats to the bottom button.
When my oldest son stands up he does exactly the same with his shirt, left right left and two pats to the bottom button.
My youngest son has many of my dad's voice mannerisms, when my dad first died I nearly cried every time I spoke to my son they hadn't spent enough time together for it to be mimicry.
When I went to A&E with DD1 and Dgd I noticed that Dgd curled her pillow the same way I curl mine, in an effort to find a cool bit.
Scrimping and saving, ranting and raving. Past retirement age.
9 comments:
That is fascinating - must be in the genes!
It's funny - my dad always said that my eldest brother did exactly the same thing when going into his wallet as our grandfather. My grandparents lived in Scotland so we only saw them a few times so where did he get it from?
I was recently reading that scientists have discovered that memories or how we react to traumatic events can be passed on to future generations. If that is true, perhaps other things, like mannerisms can be passed on to. It's all a bit over my head, but just fascinating!
I have a half sister - we did not meet until I was in my 40s, she late 30s. As well as looking similar we share a lot of the same mannerisms and mirror each other when at opposite ends of a room. We also have some identical idiosyncrasies and have very similar speech patterns.
Genetics are amazing!
When I was about 5, we saw a handweaving demonstration, and I was absolutely fascinated. We'd go to craft fairs, and Mom learned to leave me at the weaving and spinning demonstrations because that was all I cared about - it was really more like enthralled. My uncle was into genealogy, and my sister got into it as well. She told my uncle one day I had learned to spin and gotten a wheel and was taking yet another weaving course, and he volunteered that my great-grandmother, who had died years before I was born, and been a weaver, and "had a room full of looms and spinning wheels."
My mother and her two sisters almost always sent my grandmother (their mother) identical birthday cards, despite one being in Durham, one in Chester and one in Hampshire, and never discussing with each other which cards they were buying!
My son has many of my late father's mannerisms, but my father died when my son was eighteen months old, so it most certainly isn't mimicry!
My mum's youngest sister and I rub our noses in exactly the same way when we're cold, and if either of us gets the top of our forehead really cold, we suffer awful headaches. This doesn't happen to anyone else in the family!
My mum once saw me hanging washing out on the line and said it was like watching her grandmother, who died when I was two! Apparently I hold the items in exactly the same way, and place the pegs in the same positions!
Watching my son and my husband walk, there's no doubt at all that they're father and son, they walk in perfect time when they're together, it almost looks choreographed! X
That is interesting. We have observed similarities in our family too.
Oh yes, the resemblances and mannerisms between members of different generations in families is real and it is fascinating! Also that thing Sue said about trauma passed down through the genes -- there's scientific evidence for this, now. Life is a wonderful mystery and there is so much we still don't know or understand. Maybe we never will, and that just has to be okay, but it sure is fun learning! -Kate
My father had a hand movement in which he placed his third finger and thumb together in a quick motion with a bit of a hand jerk to emphasize that the subject was closed. I almost fell over when my three year old granddaughter did the exact hand movement in emphasizing something to her mother. My father died when Kenzie's mother was three years old.
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