Ginger has a slightly negative connotation, especially in the UK where they are discriminated against. However they are less than adored throughout the rest of Europe. I had an Austrian philosophy professor who confessed that he and his wife were afraid they might conceive a ginger. At this point I dropped the course. Mysteriously though, he had me in his course book as already having dropped the class. Either way he hated gingers and I was getting the heck outta there.
For some reason people are drawn to redheads. I don't know if we look friendly or interesting. Perhaps they once knew a ginger and maybe I know them also. I personally know that when I meet a fellow redhead I do feel a sort of kinship with them. They know what it's like to go through life with sunscreen at the ready. They know what it's like to turn bright red when embarrassed. They know what it's like to have fair eyebrows and eyelashes. They just know. They get me.
However it is nothing less than awkward when someone forces their ginger relations on you. One of my regular customers was convinced that I look just like his daughter, age 7. Our similarities end at red hair and blue eyes. He brought her in once and we shared a knowing glance her father was annoying. As a child with red hair I was often faced with the dilemma of strangers. Strangers were constantly coming up to me and telling me what lovely hair I had and asking where I got it. I would tell them, "from my parents." They would try to ask which one, but I wouldn't have any of it. I wasn't supposed to be talking to them to begin with (unless they had some tasty sweets).
As I've previously stated, people are morons. I learned in about the fifth grade what a Punnett square was. I didn't understand the entire concept of chromosomes at that age, but I did understand that both my parents had to carry the "gingervitis" gene in order for me to have red hair. Adults however, are still baffled by this. And what does one say when you get complimented on something you had no control over. "Oh yeah, I'll be sure to tell my dad that the singular sperm that happened to out swim the others carried an absolute jackpot of genetic information!"
Lastly, no I'm not Irish and I do not have a temper. Admittedly my family tree does have a smidgen of Irish but I have far more French and Nordic stock in me. So when people tell me that I must be Irish, ("Oh, what a novel thought, I never heard that before," I think to myself) I tell them no. I say cool as a cucumber that I am not Irish at all.
With the matter of the temper I am not doing well defending myself with this blog full of rage. It is frustrating because any time someone says that I must have a temper, they are usually doing or saying something that would make a normal person mad. I, however, have to stay doubly cool in these situations or else I start to blush which just makes me look like I'm angry. I guess turning red is better than green... GINGER SMASH!
Ginger out.
*shakes head*
ReplyDeleteMom, the point is that the gene is recessive. It comes from BOTH parents, or else you're not a ginger!