I know DNA tests are so bougie. I struggle between "this matters less now than ever before" and honest, self-centered curiosity. And, as I'm finding, it's even more interesting to see how inaccurate the oral histories and assumptions based on little more than a surname are in the face of data.
That's the real story here. People are constantly making reference to their ethnic heritage like they have any idea what it is, and like it has bearing on their lives. "I'm Italian, so I yell, you know?!" I guess? You're probably adopted, you don't know. It's inevitable that people want to categorize and box themselves, but I'm so interested in cases where whatever you thought you were is not what you are.
My results have changed several times over the last few years since I first took the test. The percentages have fluctuated within the same general part of earth, but it's been a dramatic shift if you're operating from within my dad's and my conversations. Like I said, he first was thrilled to be a viking because it totally fulfilled some David Mann painting* in his mind, but he never even was, I was. That was before his DNA came in, and I took for granted that his would be very similar to mine because I went to public school in Arizona. Yes, I was like 34 when I finally learned how DNA works - I was able to admit that because I was a powerful viking - But he went to a Jesuit school and still didn't know, so that's just on American society, not to mention Catholicism.
Essentially (should you require the update as well), you can envision what you inherit from your parents as a grab bag of prior generational genes, a mix that changes with each fertilization (gross), so you're not likely to entirely match anyone in your family short of an identical twin. You won't inherit everything that your parents did, and you may even manifest things from prior generations that they don't have.
So when my dad got his results back, he was basically mostly British and Irish, with some random smaller percentages of generalized Western Europe. But really, he was largely British, something he was firmly unimpressed by. I tried to trick him by telling him (the truth) that very few people, certainly people living outside the UK, have that high a percentage. It's true, I read it online.
The next time they pushed out an update, my Northperson percentages declined significantly while my Irish percentage shot up to the majority of my heritage. Woops, I'm actually not a strong Viking woman, or not much. My dad stayed steadfastly British, as they do.
All the other stuff is not as expected. Obviously my dad expected to be German as hell because of his name, and because his grandparents spoke German at home, as their parents came from Wurttemberg, an obscure locale by the Black Forest, so at least we're from a cool part of the Germanic Empire. I expected to be Italian, because my great-grandmother and all of her prior folks were Italian and came from there. Since she was a major person in my life, I figured her heritage was mine too. Not so much. The only one who was ever accurate in her assessments was dad's mom, who said she was Irish AF and dang it, that's largely what the rest of us showed too. She would like that. Love it really. She was never smug, but when she was, she was.
All this to say that the results changed again this year, around the same time that I sent in for 23&Me. The changes were slight, but my Scot went up. All I know is nearly 40% Scottish should 100% warrant some dual citizenship. And, I'm less than 2% Neanderthal. So use that as you will.
And to entirely have buried the lead, the site has also confirmed what I already knew about a certain embattled half sibling relationship I have. I texted her, saying, "We don't have to go on Jerry Springer anymore..." which, god bless her, she loved. Even though she's a breeder PTA mom, she's still edgier and cooler than I ever was in my entire life.
I'd normally say that at the end of the day, this is all just trivia, except for that last bit. This latter detail was no revelation to me, only confirmation. That's why 23&Me makes you check several boxes acknowledging that the data that they will reveal to you may not be what you expect to see, and it sure as hell isn't their fault.
Pretty fascinating stuff, even while the world is burning.
*y'all realize this is just another kind of basic, right
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