(I am out to dinner with my family to celebrate my oldest cousin moving into a new apartment with her boyfriend. I have recently been tutoring my younger cousin in biology.)
Younger Cousin: “Hey, [My Name], you have attached earlobes! That means that you have two recessive alleles, right?”
Me: “Yeah, that’s right!”
Younger Cousin: “Well, dad and I have unattached earlobes, and that means we have the dominant allele, right?”
Me: “Yup.”
Younger Cousin: “And my mom has unattached earlobes, too! We’re all dominant!”
Me: “Actually, I think your mom has attached earlobes. Take a closer look.”
Older Cousin’s Boyfriend: “Well, dominant traits are always shown, and recessive traits are hidden, so you have to have two copies of the recessive gene to have a recessive trait.”
Me: “Right…”
(Older cousin’s boyfriend continues to try to explain genetics to me as our family watches in silence, holding back snickers until finally my cousin says something.)
Older Cousin: “You do know that this is what she is getting her Ph.D. in, right?”
Older Cousin’s Boyfriend: *to me* “Why didn’t you say anything?!”
Me: “Well, you didn’t say anything technically wrong…”