# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/21 "2014-08-18T19:23:26Z")
Nope, my family doesn’t accept anybody normal. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/22 "2014-08-18T20:22:00Z")
Oh absolutely. One uncle has had untreated bipolar disorder for 40 years or so. He keeps things interesting. Another has ties to this weird cult. One cousin we think is a hooker. My dad has a cousin who burned his house down with his wife locked inside. He is somehow free now. ---
**Author:** ![48Willys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/db5fbb/32.png) [@48Willys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/48Willys)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/23 "2014-08-18T23:14:27Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > This would have made a great Poll: > > Is your family’s weird relative A) You or B) Somebody else? Great Idea!! 🙂 > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > C) All of the above Beat out by engineer\_comp\_geek. I have another one: D) None of the above In which case we know the real answer is A. Of course we could ask about the % of your family is weird. Mine would be about 85%. Yes, I did include myself! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/24 "2014-08-19T18:58:13Z")
fully half of my family are card-carrying nutburgers of various stripes. One of many reasons I moved from Florida to Boston… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/25 "2014-08-19T20:07:39Z")
I **wish** I had only one weird relative. Mind you, I may well be on some other people’s Weird Relatives lists. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/26 "2014-08-19T20:33:28Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Aunt Wynelle. Might have started the minute they named her. I had an Aunt Mike, but that was acquired. ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/27 "2014-08-19T20:42:01Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > fully half of my family are card-carrying nutburgers of various stripes. _Card-carrying nutburgers_ - I love this! I just sent it to the one other normal person in my family. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/28 "2014-08-19T20:47:39Z")
I’m pretty sure I’m the weird one in my family. They’re all successful middle-class social folks who take vacations and participate in events and play sports and ya know, work and leave the house and don’t take four different meds and um…bathe regularly and have all their teeth. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/29 "2014-08-20T06:27:36Z")
We have one normal relative in our family, but we don’t know which one it is. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/30 "2014-08-20T06:31:14Z")
So would you all agree that the odd relative keeps the conversation flowing? Thing is my “normal” relatives are too uptight to be open and talk about their lives or else they want to brag alot, both of which is boring. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/31 "2014-08-20T07:43:09Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > So would you all agree that the odd relative keeps the conversation flowing? One of my great-uncles (who, alas, has shuffled off this mortal coil), did keep the conversation going. He was genius-level smart…and extremely odd as well. One of his more interesting habits was trash-picking. Our first microwave was one of those items (clean, but no one wanted to stand in front of it when it was running…just in case.) He also didn’t follow conversations too well (the ones in his head were probably better), so of course we had some real howlers from him. My favorite was the year that we sent around all the food dishes clockwise, except the mashed potatoes, which went counter-clockwise. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/32 "2014-08-20T13:00:30Z")
My sister is the white sheep of our family. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/33 "2014-08-20T14:16:13Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > My sister is the white sheep of our family. 🙂 I’m the black sheep of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Random\_noob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@Random\_noob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_noob)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/34 "2014-08-20T16:50:46Z")
Just one? I wish… I have an uncle with multiple wives. A 300 pound whale of a cousin who was told her child was overweight at 6 months old…she told the doc to shove it. A aunt who thinks collecting unemployment is the best job she has ever. The list goes on. Family is your blood but not likely your closest personality match… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Butterfly\_s\_Ghost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_butterfly_s_ghost/32/3462_2.png) [@The\_Butterfly\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Butterfly_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/35 "2014-08-20T16:59:22Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I’m the black sheep of mine. And I’m the sparkly, glittery, rainbow-coloured one of mine. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/36 "2014-08-20T17:07:07Z")
Most of us are harmless, but more than a few of us are on the further side of eccentric. I have (I think it is) an uncle (currently deceased) who murdered his wife because she left him for the Fuller Brush man. I have a great-aunt who died because she got drunk and was folded up into a Murphy bed (one of those beds that folds down out of the wall). My great uncle fed the mice in the attic of his very expensive house because he was too soft-hearted to set traps, and so put out food and water in the attic on the theory that if they had all they wanted in the attic, they had no occasion to come downstairs and bother my great-aunt - everyone was happy, no one got hurt. (It didn’t work out.) And so forth. Things get even more soap-opera if you include my wife’s family with its stories of bootlegging, adultery, spousal abuse, kidnapping, and general loony-tunes. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Martha-Shumway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Martha-Shumway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha-Shumway)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751/37 "2014-08-20T17:55:07Z")
Well, I guess it is me, in a way. All aunts, uncles and cousins are married, never divorced and have children. I’m twice divorced, live alone in a very large city, and have never had children. My family is very kind to me, but I know that they are “concerned.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-family-have-one-weird-relative/695751.md?page=1)