So one of the fun things about generations of endogamous marriage (marrying within your group) is that it leads to a "background" level of relatedness with people you don't know.
So in Ashkenazi communities that still do arranged marriage, they often do genetic testing first - because even without knowing each other, a bride and groom could possibly have a genetic closeness equivilant to maybe cousins.
A lot of communities in India show this phenomenon too.
I wonder whether it's only really required for arranged marriages because that subverts the usual smell test that people do naturally that tend to detect people with similar immune systems, or if it's just that some people put more thought into arranged marriages...
13 replies
So one of the fun things about generations of endogamous marriage (marrying within your group) is that it leads to a "background" level of relatedness with people you don't know.
So in Ashkenazi communities that still do arranged marriage, they often do genetic testing first - because even without knowing each other, a bride and groom could possibly have a genetic closeness equivilant to maybe cousins.
A lot of communities in India show this phenomenon too.
I wonder whether it's only really required for arranged marriages because that subverts the usual smell test that people do naturally that tend to detect people with similar immune systems, or if it's just that some people put more thought into arranged marriages...
Has it been shown that we're smellin' for incest, so to speak? We definitely seem to have a smell test but has it been shown to include that?
I don't think it was because of the arranged marriage - just that experienced matchmakers knew they had to account for that.
This mediaeval Jewish inbred toddler lived to the age of 55 and yet apparently they're still a toddler.
Hey, it works for trump.
Managed to upvote this at the same time someone else did! :0
Relatable 😁
I think that's the estimated year of birth, not his age
No that’s just his name
Yiddish mom: Go play with you cousin
"Norwich". I'd have thought that the inbred part was implied.
They were excited they finally found something they were not totally disgusted with.
"This one didn't have slaves!"