# Are you a crazy Uncle...I am **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027 "2000-04-16T01:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f04885/32.png) [@Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghost)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/1 "2000-04-16T01:56:00Z")
I come from a long line of crazy “Uncle Jimmy’s”… you know the type…the uncle who never married…no kids…but cool as hell. I am one, I was wondering if there are others like me out there. just sign in here please Thanks, Uncle Jimmy ---
**Author:** ![Angkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Angkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angkins)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/2 "2000-04-16T02:00:00Z")
I have a crazy uncle like you, so that counts…sort of ;). ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/3 "2000-04-16T03:31:00Z")
I have an uncle just like that. Uncle George. The guy lived with my grandmother, never really grew up, and watching them both make the transformation from her taking care of him (she made all meals for him until she was into her 90s) and and then, whe her health failed, vice versa. Anyway, he was gruff on the outside, always complkaining when the kids would come by, but a total sweetheart underneath the exterior. He had a agreat relationship with my mom untiil she died, and he took good care of grandma until she died. He left New York after the latter (he always hated the place, even though he was totally Archie Buker personified) and retired to Knoxviille, TN. We hung out last on Christmas day as I spent the holidays visiting every relative I have in my immediate family. Just like in _A Christmas Story_. Here’s a picture of us together in the lobby of the place: [http://homepages.go.com/~cmcinternationalrecords/BriGrge.JPG](http://homepages.go.com/~cmcinternationalrecords/BriGrge.JPG) I always look forward to calling him, as we are both huge Yankee fans. Every October, I call him after every Yankee post-season win. It’s a neat tradition that I hope continues for some time! * * * Yer pal, Satan [http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif](http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif) _TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING: One week, 1 hour, 22 minutes and 30 seconds. 282 cigarettes not smoked, saving $35.28. Life saved: 23 hours, 30 minutes._ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/4 "2000-04-16T03:46:00Z")
## Count me in. There’s a pic of me’n’the nephew about half way down this page: [http://pw1.netcom.com/~heliboy/album.html](http://pw1.netcom.com/~heliboy/album.html) “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/5 "2000-04-16T04:07:00Z")
Awwwwww, Johnny. That’s the cutest picture I’ve ever seen! I don’t have a crazy uncle, but I do have a cool aunt. My mother’s older sister never got married, lived a commune for awhile, made band t-shirts for about a year, sold pottery for another year, never really settled down or did anything, but is really really cool. One of my favorite people in my world. * * * “I need the biggest seed bell you have. . . no, that’s too big.”–Hans Moleman ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/6 "2000-04-16T13:17:00Z")
Why do crazy uncles (or aunts) have to never marry? I wanna get married, dammit! * * * “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/7 "2000-04-16T15:00:00Z")
By this definition, I qualify as a crazy uncle. I’m not married, have nine nieces and nephews, and for the last ten to fifteen years have always bought them lots of Christmas presents. I have five married brothers and sisters. I suppose that my two brothers who are also unmarried qualify as crazy uncles too. One of them lives with my parents and does some taking care of them now. But like Johnny L. A., I didn’t set out to be a crazy uncle. I want to get married. I’ve just never found anyone who wants to marry me. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/8 "2000-04-16T15:11:00Z")
Johnny, Wendell, you’re not alone. My nieces and nephew think it’s cooler than a snowfall when crazy uncle Crosby comes to visit (they’re all conveniently located in Santa Fe, as are most of my siblings). Marriage…a project…still working on it; but I _do_ know a lot about crazy women. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/9 "2000-04-17T05:42:00Z")
Mine was my father’s oldest brother. I’ve been one myself for 20 years–and no end in sight. ---
**Author:** ![Elthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e274bd/32.png) [@Elthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elthia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/10 "2000-04-16T22:45:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Johnny L.A.: > \*\*Why do crazy uncles (or aunts) have to never marry? I wanna get married, dammit! > \*\* Well, you know… My ‘crazy’ (read, feminist and incredible role model) aunt never married. But she did live with her ‘mate’ until he died (it was several decades, maybe as much as fifty years). They didn’t believe in marriage. So, even if you ‘never get married’, that doesn’t mean you can’t get laid, or be in a truly loving relationship (cripes, in most states gay people can’t get married, so - there you go 🙂 ). -Elthia ---
**Author:** ![gooley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb9ed0/32.png) [@gooley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooley)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-crazy-uncle-i-am/16027/11 "2000-04-17T00:25:00Z")
I qualify. Two nephews now, the elder a bit over three, also godfather to both. Unmarried (unintentional, but I seem not to be marriage material), I live in a doublewide trailer in the North Florida flatwoods. I’m trying to establish bamboo, as well as such exotics as giant sequoia, cold-hardy eucalyptus and acacia, and other plants that will probably become invasive pests unless I kill them first. (Don’t tell the Florida Native Plants Society or they’ll kick me out.) Other plans for the land include a one-acre greenhouse 100 feet high, for those tropical trees…if I get the money together, somehow. And a house and workshop for woodworking, metalworking, and boatbuilding. And a place for my several tons of books. I hope to be a bad influence in my nephews’ lives. Mark.