# Does every family have one "weird" relative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751 "2014-08-17T11:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/1 "2014-08-17T11:16:21Z")
It seems to me they do. That really odd Aunt Gertrude or Uncle Clarence who says or does some of the craziest things. Maybe they have a true mental disability or they might be doing it do just be odd but it seems most families have such a person. Personally, while they may be annoying I think they make family get-togethers more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/2 "2014-08-17T12:45:06Z")
Well, my family never talks about that sort of thing when I’m around. I’ve never been able to figure out why. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/3 "2014-08-17T12:58:49Z")
I have a number of relatives who have been diagnosed as Bi-polar. I have a nephew who is in a cult like thingie somewhere in Pennsylvania. But when you say it makes get togethers more interesting, do you mean with them at the party or just talking about them at the party? Cause that might make a difference in my answer. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/4 "2014-08-17T15:39:32Z")
I think they do. No matter the family, there seems to be always someone who has a different mindset. To the hard drinking, rowdy family, the member who doesn’t like to party and gets good grades might seem odd. To the staid, reserved family, the member who stays out all Saturday night partying might seem odd. So I think the member who deviates from the family norm will be the weird relative. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/5 "2014-08-17T15:47:20Z")
[Zazu]There’s one in every family, Sire. _Two_ in mine, actually.[/Zazu] ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/6 "2014-08-17T17:23:40Z")
Yo! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/7 "2014-08-17T17:46:48Z")
Just one? Sometimes, that one weird relative finds somebody else’s one weird relative to breed with. This is the only thing my four grandparents had in common. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/8 "2014-08-17T17:59:21Z")
We don’t have “one” weird relative - in my case, it’s the entire branch of my mother’s family. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/9 "2014-08-17T18:00:04Z")
This would have made a great Poll: Is your family’s weird relative A) You or B) Somebody else? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/10 "2014-08-17T18:09:04Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Well, my family never talks about that sort of thing when I’m around. I’ve never been able to figure out why. I know what you mean. I’m the only person in my family who _isn’t_ weird. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/11 "2014-08-17T18:20:09Z")
At least one! (And when you scratch the surface, the “normal” ones are always a lot weirder than one expects.) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/12 "2014-08-17T19:15:11Z")
My family always said “Shake any family tree, and you’re bound to have a few nuts fall out.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cold\_Dish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cold\_Dish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cold_Dish)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/13 "2014-08-17T19:39:36Z")
Uncle Floyd. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/14 "2014-08-17T22:50:23Z")
I suppose, if you think your family has no weird relatives, it is likely that YOU are the weird relative… ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/15 "2014-08-17T22:53:07Z")
All the interesting and peculiar relatives in my family are dead. One left all her worldly possessions to her pet goat. One murdered his wife One was murdered in prison (see above) One murdered a man in a barroom brawl One conspired with her BIL to murder her husband Fortunately these are evenly distributed on both sides of my family. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/16 "2014-08-18T18:15:14Z")
Yep. And, in my family, that would be me. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/17 "2014-08-18T18:20:15Z")
Aunt Wynelle. Might have started the minute they named her. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/18 "2014-08-18T18:51:17Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Is your family’s weird relative A) You or B) Somebody else? C) All of the above ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/19 "2014-08-18T19:00:00Z")
How timely. I just attended a family reunion. 😃 Sis and I were talking about that after the gathering. I guess we may have been the weird relations at one point, (bookish, not into NASCAR, big hair and getting married at 18) but we fit in well with many of the next generation. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/20 "2014-08-18T19:21:23Z")
There was the aunt who thought Reagan had been killed and replaced by a stuntman, the uncle who built a wooden car and also revealed state secrets, a great aunt who woke up the family in the wee hours of dawn by singing, and a couple hyper-religious types. And there’s me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751.md?page=2)