Genetic and/or mysterious body quirks

My index fingers and my ring fingers curve in slightly toward the middle fingers. My Dad had the exact same and I can remember, as a child, how he would have us hold our hands up side by side and show everyone the similarity.

My ear will randomly get super red. Just one ear. For no apparent reason.
Both of my kids have the same thing happen to them, and it started when they were very young. My dad---same thing. His mother--same thing. And we can have a span of time when it happens often, and then goes years between it happening again.

Now there actually is something called red-ear syndrome, and it includes sudden redness of one or both ears, but it also typically includes burning, which none of us have ever experienced. The actual syndrome can also be linked with migraines, which none of us have ever regularly suffered from, either.

Many, many times we don't know our ear is red unless someone points it out. 

I never had wisdom teeth. My mom never did either not did one of my boys. I read that a lot of Asian and native peoples don’t get wisdom teeth. And about 35% of the population never get wisdom teeth. But i do have family members that have had their wisdom teeth pulled out.

Oh, and I have dry ear wax, not wet. 😂

I have a single palmar crease on both hands, but not sure if either of my parents had it. It is a single crease that extends across the palm of the hand, formed by the fusion of the two palmar creases.

I have never gotten my wisdom teeth, either. However, my brother thought he was never going to get them, and then they became impacted when he was in his 30s and he had to have them removed. And my mother had the same thing happen to her in her late 50s!

So I told all of that to my dentist who took x-rays and told me that I only have 2 of the 4 wisdom teeth and they are both under-developed, with one being smaller than the other.

But my dad & oldest child both had their wisdom teeth out in their late teens.

I don't know where this wisdom teeth situation came from on my mom's side--I guess I'll have to start asking around the cousins.   (ETA:  Checked with my mom's eldest sibling--they've never seen hide nor hair of any of their wisdom teeth.  )

I love weird body and hereditary facts like this! I don’t know how far back this goes, but my grandma, mom, and I all have weird arms. My arms both bend outward from my elbows if I am not consciously holding them in. I found that if I fold my thumb to my palm and grip it with my fingers, my arm rotates inward and looks like everyone else’s arms. If I don’t do this and I relax them, my arms bend out at the elbow. Picture standing and tucking both elbows into your waist while turning your arm from the elbow down outward. I think it would have been very beneficial back when those huge full skirts were in fashion. My arms would have just naturally hovered above the extremely full skirt so that it didn’t get wrinkled.

I didn’t realize my mom had it also until I realized she was also grasping her thumb. When I mentioned it and told her why I do it, she showed me how her arms do the same thing mine do. And she said my grandma’s did the same. Neither sister has this, and facial feature wise, they look more like my father where my facial features are more like Mom. My son doesn’t have it. I found it very interesting that no one told me to grasp my thumb, I just found that it made my arm hang correctly and felt better. Mom said no one told her to do it either, she said that she also found it felt better. It actually hurts a small amount to let it hang naturally.

Many years ago I was in a small car accident. Some paramedics just happened to be on that same road returning from something and they pulled over to help. I guess the shock of the accident made me forget to grasp my thumbs and my arms were hanging funny. The paramedic gently took one arm in his hands and said he thought I had broken my elbow. I showed him the other arm and explained that it was just a weird family quirk. I don’t think he believed me right away. I immediately corrected it by grasping both thumbs and he just looked confused.

Another voluntary weird thing that Mom, my younger sister, and I all do is to take a mouthful of water or coffee and just hold it, not swallowing it immediately like you would normally do. And I say this is voluntary, but none of us are aware of actually doing it. My sister said she was drinking coffee and then got in the shower. When she was stepping out of the shower she looked in the mirror and realized by how her face was that she had been holding that last mouthful of coffee throughout her entire shower. None of us is aware we are doing it. I had to break myself of the habit because it is weird when I am around others.

Lexica I love these strange body quirks too. It's fascinating that they are inherited. I'd love to see your arms and see how grabbing your thumb corrects it.

I've caught myself holding a sip of water in my mouth at work, only realizing it when I went to speak. I don't think I would hold it as long as taking a shower though.

The only thing that comes to mind for me is my weird pinky toenail. It's very small and thick. It grows in a thick clump rather than flat like my other toes. My oldest DD also has this but my youngest DD doesn't. There's a name for it but googling just now didn't come up with it.

My pinky fingers don't touch my ring fingers, they kind of flare out a bit. I also have one ear slightly lower than the other so my glasses sit a tiny bit crooked. Several of my family members on my dad's side have these.

My 5 year old was in the shower the other day and DH said "boy, your butt crack is crooked!" The top inch or two veers to the left, and I guess he never really paid attention before now. I was like umm, sir. So does yours. He got that from you. hahaha

I have this as well, and when I wore wire rims it always took me a few tries to get new glasses adjusted properly. The technicians expected to set down a pair of glasses and have them be flat on the desk, but if they were right for me, then one stem sat on the desk and one hovered in the air. 

But now I'm in plastic frames, so I just adjust them on my face a million times a day.

I’m sure you’re quirky in other ways 😊 but this isn’t uncommon. You’re just retching hard enough to burst some capillaries. It happens to a lot of people during the pushing part of labor also.

Both my thumbs are stub thumbs or there are many other nicknames like clubbed thumbs. The end bone of each is very short so my thumb nails look very weird. I’ve never found anyone else in my family with the same condition and I had tons of grandparents, great, and great great grands alive until I was in my early twenties.
I once met someone with a regular thumb and a stubby one, so I always joked that at least mine match each other. I have met someone that’s married into my husband’s family that has two thumbs.

DS and I both have oddly curved fourth toes on both feet

I don’t recall it happening to me during labor but it happens to me every time I vomit…so apparently I puke harder than I push! 😄

My sister and I were born without lower wisdom teeth. They do not exist. My dad had none at all. My mom had all of them.

I have one toe that is noticeably shorter than its counterpart on the opposite foot. I always thought I broke it and it didn't grow right, until I noticed my dad has the same thing same toe!