# "My second career in the circus" OR "Double-jointed--on being a freak." **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 1999, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726 "1999-11-08T17:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pixoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pixoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/1 "1999-11-08T17:29:00Z")
I’m double-jointed in my shoulders and elbows. This means that my elbows bend backwards a bit (about 20 degrees?). I can link both hands in front of me and pull them over my head and behind my back without letting go. And I can go backwards, too. 🙂 This generally elicits cries of, “Oh, sick! Don’t do that again!” or “Oh, sick! Do that again!” Almost every day in chemistry class, I got pestered… Anybody else out there who’s double-jointed? ---
**Author:** ![CanadianSue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/2 "1999-11-08T17:31:00Z")
My son is totally double jointed… He can sit and bend his arms right back till they are totally flat… has some weird leg things too… I have no idea where he got it from… neither me or his dad are that flexible… * * * “Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.” ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/3 "1999-11-08T17:35:00Z")
I’m minor double jointed: I can bend most of my fingers at the second and first joint. But the _cool_ thing about me is that I can rotate my eyeballs. 😃 * * * You say “cheesy” like that’s a **BAD** thing. ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/4 "1999-11-09T06:11:00Z")
Pixoid said, “…I’m double-jointed in my shoulders and elbows. This means that my elbows bend backwards a bit (about 20 degrees?). I can link both hands in front of me and pull them over my head and behind my back without letting go. And I can go backwards, too…” I can do that too! Another freak like me. 🙂 I can also step through them afterwards and keep going. I have only gone up to 67 though, because it feels a little strange and it gets boring after a bit. I once looked through a freak magazine and when I got to the contortionist part, I noticed that I could do everything that they were doing and then some others not shown. It was nice. I can also stand in a doorway and twist around a full 360 degrees with my feet in a stationary position and look back in the same direction. My legs are just as flexible. I have not been able to do that auto-fellatio thing since I developed a belly, but I used to be able to do it. If you don’t know, don’t ask. I can also collapse my metacarpal bones (in the hand but not the fingers or the wrist) enough to get out of handcuffs, ropes, etc. (It has been a problem often enough for me to learn that one.) I can twist, turn, flex, in practically any direction imagineable (sp?). I can also fold my tongue into one, two, three, five, and seven points only using my tongues musculature. The seven gets kind of tricky and is tiring, but it is still possible. (Most people who can fold their tongues can only do a single point.) It is nice knowing someone else can do the “circle trick”. It is what I called the arm-thing after I discovered that I could do it. The best part is that there really is not a trick to it at all contrary to what many of my friends would think. I am sure that we are some of the few people who would actually be able to get out of a straight jacket rather easily because we both can do it. HUGS! Sqrl * * * Gasoline: As an accompaniement to cereal it made a refreshing change. Glen Baxter ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/5 "1999-11-09T06:12:00Z")
BTW, my elbows don’t hyper-extend like yours do. HUGS! Sqrl * * * Gasoline: As an accompaniement to cereal it made a refreshing change. Glen Baxter ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/6 "1999-11-09T06:23:00Z")
I can bend the top joint of all my fingers independently, which is useless, but was a big hit in grade school. I can also wiggle my ears, one at a time or in tandem 🙂 Catrandom ---
**Author:** ![Pixoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pixoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/7 "1999-11-08T19:12:00Z")
Sqrl, that’s amazing…I can’t do more than one small tongue point, the twists–I’m in awe. I call it the arm-thing, too. So do a lot of people, “Pix! Do the arm-thing! Now do it backwards! Again!” I’m a trained seal. 😃 I can step through, too, but due to numerous comments on jump-roping with my arms, I don’t do that too often. And I can bend just the top joints of my fingers, also. But I can’t wiggle my ears or arch my eyebrows. Singularly or in tandem. ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-second-career-in-the-circus-or-double-jointed-on-being-a-freak/10726/8 "1999-11-08T22:37:00Z")
My sole contribution to this thread is that I have hitchhiker’s thumb (can flex 180 degrees). – Sylence * * * And now, for my next trick, I will talk in spooky half-references.