# Relation Hall of Shame **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2001, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388 "2001-04-26T10:26:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/1 "2001-04-26T10:26:21Z")
I’ve got some working theories about how closely related everyone is related to their SO. So I’d like to get some good data on that point. So I want to hear how closely you are related to yourself (ignoring the fact that you are in fact yourself for a moment) I am my own 7th cousin. ---
**Author:** ![Amazing\_Tiki\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazing\_Tiki\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Tiki_God)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/2 "2001-04-26T10:34:17Z")
WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/3 "2001-04-26T10:39:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brother rat \* > **So I want to hear how closely you are related to yourself (ignoring the fact that you are in fact yourself for a moment)** I am myself pretty much 100% of the time. OK, care to elaborate? It’s either that, or closing that bottle of white-out on your desk, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Amazing\_Tiki\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazing\_Tiki\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Tiki_God)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/4 "2001-04-26T10:41:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by brother rat \* > > **So I want to hear how closely you are related to yourself (ignoring the fact that you are in fact yourself for a moment)** > > I am myself pretty much 100% of the time. > > OK, care to elaborate? It’s either that, or closing that bottle of white-out on your desk, dude. \*\* Exactly what I was thinking. Didn’t wanna provoke’em though. You know how those white-out huffers can get… ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/5 "2001-04-26T10:47:39Z")
Ok, my 3rd great grandparents were 2nd cousins. So their child, my 2nd great grandmother, was her own 3rd cousin. Their child, my own great grandmother, was her own 4th cousin. My grandfather was his own 5th cousin, my father his own 6th and I am my own 7th cousin. You see? Although if you didn’t know what I meant then you probably can’t answer my question about your family anyway. Oh BTW, let’s limit this to blood relations only. ---
**Author:** ![Amazing\_Tiki\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazing\_Tiki\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Tiki_God)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/6 "2001-04-26T10:57:08Z")
Oh so it has to do with inbreeding??? ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/7 "2001-04-26T11:12:47Z")
Who’s related to the what now? — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/8 "2001-04-26T11:13:14Z")
I am me and you are me and we are me and we are all together? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/9 "2001-04-26T11:16:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brother rat \* > **Ok, my 3rd great grandparents were 2nd cousins. So their child, my 2nd great grandmother, was her own 3rd cousin. Their child, my own great grandmother, was her own 4th cousin. My grandfather was his own 5th cousin, my father his own 6th and I am my own 7th cousin. You see?** I don’t think it works that way, really. Yeah, the linear logic is right, but still. I suppose you could make the statement for the first step, but the rest becomes rather academic. No inbreeding in my family that I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/10 "2001-04-26T11:32:03Z")
Well it could be about inbreedingbut it doesn’t have to be. Inbreeding is a very narrow term, if you were to date your 5th cousin I don’t think anyone would call that inbreeding. Especially since most people don’t have a clue who their 4th great grandparents were much less which random people around them also share those same 4th great grandparents. Once you get past a few generations your 5th or so so cousin isn’t any closer to you in genetics then any random person of the same race. What I’m really after is trying to find out how closly the average person is related to another average person. I’ve heard various estimates and have also formed my own opinions. So yes it is academic, but that’s beside the point here. Now this isn’t very scientific since I don’t have any limits. And the audience I’m speaking too is quite skewed. Americans are likely to be much more closely related to the average American then to the average Chinese. And yeah 99% of the people out there have no idea how they are related to themselves, but I guarantee you that it’s there for each and every one of you. I’m really hoping to hear from that 1% who know. Although all thoughts will be read. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/11 "2001-04-26T15:05:04Z")
Europeans were all probably from the same king & queen (I forgot which set, anyone know). So those of us with European ancestors are probably all related, which most people don’t pay much attention to because it would mean we are all one big incestous lot. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/12 "2001-04-26T15:42:36Z")
**handy** ’s right, as usual. Back in the day, two Africans took a stiff walk around the Mediteranean, settled in a place we now know as Grenoble, titled themselves “King and Queen of… hey, what the hell, Europe”, and started breeding like rabbits. White people are all descendants of those children. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/13 "2001-04-26T17:50:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \* > \*\*I am me and you are me and we are me and we are all together? \*\* Uh-uh, I am the walrus… ---
**Author:** ![seawitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@seawitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seawitch)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/14 "2001-04-26T23:43:12Z")
Funny you should be here. I am the eggman. Or am I my own grampaw? ---
**Author:** ![Phallyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Phallyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phallyn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/15 "2001-04-27T01:12:31Z")
Well, my great-great-great-great-great-grandparents were third cousins. Therefore I am my own eighth cousin (I think). That’s the most recent case of inbreeding in my family tree. Go back waaaaaaaay farther (into the thirteenth century and whatnot) and there are cases of my ancestors being first cousins, second cousins, first cousins once removed, and even one example of a guy who married his own niece! (eww). For the record, the supposed King who was father of all Europeans is Charlemagne. There is some pretty complicated mathematics I could post here, showing the odds of being his descendants (which is pretty wild, showing that literally everyone of European ancestry _has_ to be his descendant), if anyone’s interested in looking at it. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/16 "2001-04-27T03:20:53Z")
Uh… I was adopted. Good thing, too, because I could _never_ figure this stuff out. So I guess I actually am related to myself and only myself, at least in my opinion. And I am just vain enough to want to marry myself, if that were possible. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relation-hall-of-shame/63388/17 "2001-07-08T18:45:50Z")
I am only related to myself by marrage…