# What gene do you lack? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393 "2007-10-20T15:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/1 "2007-10-20T15:58:30Z")
I do not have the _ **Car-Buying Gene** _. Every time I buy a car, my brain seizes up. I wish I could just tell a friend what I want, give them the money, and let them do it for me. What bit of genomic sequence are you missing? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Understander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3da27b/32.png) [@The\_Understander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Understander)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/2 "2007-10-20T16:14:46Z")
I am bereft of the \*\*Motivate-Myself-to-Sit-My-Arse-Down-and-Write \*\* gene. Common? Maybe. But no less disheartening. ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/3 "2007-10-20T16:36:43Z")
I have a shoe buying gene. I can not buy shoes as I hate shoes and finding a pair that I like is rare. I bought a pair last weekend because I had to and I hate them already. They fit and go with what I wear but I hate shoes so I hate them just cause they are shoes. I also have the fade away gene. I have read books my entire life. I would take out books from the library and read all weekend long when I was a teenager. In my twenties if I picked up a book that grabbed my attention I would read and read at every possible moment until I was done. Now I have a book sitting in my bedroom that my daughter and BF have read and they say it is great and is my type of reading material yet I have yet to read but the first page. I think I am afraid of the commitment. ---
**Author:** ![XaMcQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f9ae1b/32.png) [@XaMcQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XaMcQ)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/4 "2007-10-20T17:54:32Z")
My husband and I both lack the cleaning gene. This makes for a good marriage but a messy house. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/5 "2007-10-20T18:11:03Z")
I lack the **Queer Eye** gene. I must rely on lipstick lesbians to help me buy my clothes and decorate my house. ---
**Author:** ![Caterpillar22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5a626/32.png) [@Caterpillar22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caterpillar22)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/6 "2007-10-20T18:23:52Z")
I don’t have the **math gene**. My mom is very bad at math, and her children seemed to have inherited that trait. What sucks is that my dad is mathmatically gifted. I was two levels behind in math when I was in high school, while taking honors and AP classes in everything else. I tried _so_ hard to improve, but no amount of tutoring or private sessions with teachers helped me out. I didn’t graduate with honors because of math, and I harbor some resentment because of that. I lack the **clothes-shopping gene** that apparently most women have. I _hate_ going clothes shopping. I know how to pick out decent clothes, I just find the entire process excruciatingly boring. On that same note, I also lack the **shoe gene** - I couldn’t care less about what brand my shoes are, or how many different kinds I have. I just don’t want my feet to hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/7 "2007-10-20T18:34:13Z")
I don’t have a **finance** gene. I freeze up when faced with tax returns, insurance stuff, or anything about investing and retirement funds. I’m not stupid. I’ve had it explained to me several times and I always think I understand… but then I don’t. Then again, it might be tied to my defective math gene - I just hate working with numbers. Even Sudoku freaks me out a little. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/8 "2007-10-20T19:13:00Z")
I don’t have the **Filling out forms** or the **Writing Business English** gene. Really sucks during a job search…like now. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/9 "2007-10-20T20:56:32Z")
I absolutely do not have the **Babies Are Just So Cute And Cuddly** gene. Call me in 20 years when I can have a conversation with them. In fact, I have almost zero **Awwwwww** genes at all, except for young frisky animals. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/10 "2007-10-20T21:14:49Z")
I lack the navigation gene. If I must go someplace new, I have to carefully examine a map. I love, love, love the various internet mapmaking programs that give me a map AND driving instructions. My life is easier because of them. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/11 "2007-10-20T21:19:09Z")
Some would say I lack the Love-Of-Chocolate gene, but of course, I believe I have the Superior-Taste gene. 😃 I do lack the Mechanical Skills gene, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/12 "2007-10-20T21:29:35Z")
As I told my son last night-the wininng-a-raffle/contest gene (the WARC gene). I never, ever win. My son told me he wins sometimes, so he must have gotten a good copy of the winning-a-raffle/contest gene from dad to go with my bad copy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/13 "2007-10-20T23:00:49Z")
I also lack the math gene. I’m very intelligent, even gifted, but holy crap do I suck at math. In middle school I would go directly from my honors English class to my remedial math class, which was just me and one other kid in the library with a teacher. I also lack the navigation gene. It’s so bad- if we go to a restaurant and I go to the bathroom while we’re there, my kids know to come looking for me if I’m not back in 10 minutes. I can’t parallel park- I don’t even try. It’s hard for me to even park straight. “Did I just pass it?” is a question I frequently ask while driving, and I get lost a lot. I don’t know if it’s genetic or brain damage, but I’m just not able to tell where I am in space at all. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/14 "2007-10-20T23:05:53Z")
I lack the drawing gene. I pulled a D in first grade art, and not for lack of effort. ---
**Author:** ![pprgrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@pprgrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pprgrl)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/15 "2007-10-20T23:17:53Z")
I have a curiously incomplete gene sequence. I lack the car-buying gene, the clothes-buying gene, the preview-before-reply gene (IRL as well as online) and the tact gene. The two that bug me the most are my missing gaydar gene and my missing spatial perception gene. I have an inch long gash on my forehead right now from smacking it into the bathroom sink. I really envy you people who are able to look at an object, see where it is located in relation to your body and then avoid injuring yourself by walking into/tripping over/smacking against it. You lucky bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/16 "2007-10-20T23:41:43Z")
I lack the engineering gene. My mother has an engineering degree, my grandfather has an engineering job that didn’t require a degree when he got it, and my Aunt, though she is not an engineer, has an extremely methodical and organized mind that would lend itself well to this career. Me, I am passionate about literature, and language, and writing. And philosophy, and theatre, and music, and humanities, nothing that any engineer in his/her right mind would find practical at all. I’m not saying I’m _bad_ at science and math, but I am certainly not gifted. When I took an intro statistics course in college, it took me every bit of effort I could conceive just to pull an A-. And when I told my Mom I was working for a financial counseling agency, she looked at me like I’d grown a second head. The only other artists in my family are psychotic, or dead, or both. Which reminds me… I lack the ‘‘mental health’’ gene. I think having children with my current genetic makeup would probably be a moral abomination. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/17 "2007-10-21T00:00:20Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] I absolutely do not have the **Babies Are Just So Cute And Cuddly** gene. Call me in 20 years when I can have a conversation with them. In fact, I have almost zero **Awwwwww** genes at all, except for young frisky animals. [/QUOTE] Sounds like me. I don’t feel the slightest urge to coo and gush over a baby just because somebody brings one into the room. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/18 "2007-10-21T00:03:06Z")
I lack the putting-up-with-peoples’-crap gene, and the math gene. And the sports enthusiast gene. And the car-buying gene, which goes with the lack-of-mechanical-ability gene. And the wanting-to-be-someone’s-dad gene. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/19 "2007-10-21T00:33:27Z")
Appreciation of team ball sports. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393/20 "2007-10-21T00:37:27Z")
I lack the tongue rolling gene. Wait, was that too literal? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gene-do-you-lack/423393.md?page=2)