farewell, dear spit
By Elizabeth
@Poppylicious (11134)
United Kingdom
July 17, 2016 3:32am CST
I spat in a tube. A quarter of a teaspoon, they said. Who knew it could take so long to produce that much saliva?!
The tube is now on its way to a laboratory where, if it has failed to leak or split, the super spanglydicious whizzy scientist folk will take a look at my DNA and determine where my ancestral heritage lies.
Many moons ago I had a {Greek?} hairdresser who took great delight in informing me that the kink in my hair definitely pointed to some Mediterranean ancestry. In more recent years I have discovered gypsy and possible eastern European links in my family tree. I admit that if my results come back as 100% European I'll be frightfully disappointed. A bit of Africa would be pleasant. A bit of Native American would be brilliantly funny. Nope, that won't happen.
Maybe I'll have links to royalty or to the Irish. I will discover I'm descended from Viking pillagers or Roman soldiers, French artists or Spanish bulls. Who knows? Well, I will know soon.
But, for now, my spit is wrapped up snuggly inside a box, which is inside a postbox, which is itself inside a local Tesco, waiting for collection on Monday morning. Good-bye sweet spit, enjoy your adventure!
10 people like this
11 responses
@LadyDuck (502190)
• Italy
18 Jul 16
@Poppylicious My birth maiden surname (Nava) seems to be of Celtic origins and it means marsh, or ravine.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
17 Jul 16
My birth maiden surname means 'cunning' or 'meadow' {well, not quite 'meadow' but similar and I can't check right now!}. I believe it's 100% British. My second maiden surname has its origins in either Scotland or France, but I suspect France because those ancestors ended up in the Eastern Angles part of England.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
17 Jul 16
I want to do the same thing, though I thought you swabbed your cheek? Oh well, either way... I've been meaning to do so, and I have the money to do so, I just haven't done so yet.
Just by looking at my ancestral line? I know I've got Irish and Scottish, a bit of British and some sort of Native American in me.
That is one thing I'd love to find out. My father is supposed to be like 1/4 or so Cherokee? He definitely LOOKS the part where as I am as pale as they come! According to what he's told me in the past? Supposedly his great grandfather was Cherokee but I've not found the link yet so we shall see...
Anyway.. It will take about 6 weeks will it not? You'll come back and tell us whether or not you've got any mediterranean blood running through your veins or any African.
2 people like this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
17 Jul 16
The funny thing about DNA-Your dad may have some Native American in him but it could totally skip you.
3 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
17 Jul 16
@irishidid I was able to find pictures of my ancestors, I think these were like great great's or even great great great'? They definitely look as if they could be Indian. It was old black and white's someone had posted.
I actually didn't know that it could completely "skip" me but I guess that makes sense. I'll know whenever I do take the test.
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
17 Jul 16
@irishidid My father is a quarter (Cherokee I guess) but I didn't have any in my tests. I guess the European ate up that DNA. For whatever reason I had a much larger quantity of Eastern European than anyone expected. Although my mother took the test as well so it did say we were indeed mother and son. I had twice the amount of Eastern European than she did.
3 people like this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
17 Jul 16
I did this a while back and the results were, to be honest, very much as I expected: wholly British/Northern European (but with about an average level of Neanderthal ancestry). My mother's ancestors came from somewhere around the Urals (probably Frankish, who then passed their DNA to Northern Germany and Scandinavia) while my father's forbears originated in the Middle East. Of course, all that was many thousands of years ago and our more recent ancestry is solidly Saxon with some Norse and, later, some French input. All of that I knew about, of course. There was some indication of Celtic blood (not surprising, since my family came from Worcestershire or Shropshire to London in the 18th Century. The one surprising (and probably spurious) result was a very small amount (less than 0.1%) of DNA which suggested that somewhere there was some East Asian ancestry. That only showed up in the wider evaluation, however.
2 people like this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
17 Jul 16
I am expecting more or less the same. Still, if it throws up anything slightly odd it will be interesting. :)
1 person likes this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
17 Jul 16
I did mine some time back and there were a couple of surprises. For one, I'm supposed to have Native American in me according to family but I don't have a drop.
2 people like this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
17 Jul 16
Yes, that was the same with my results. My grandmother was supposed to be half, which would mean I was at least 12.5%, but it came back as 0%. Since I have heard other people say similar things I'm thinking they don't have enough Native American samples to accurately pinpoint all the different tribes and get that picked up. Instead it said that I am completely European.
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
18 Jul 16
@Poppylicious Well as for my grandmother she was adopted but looked just like a native american and apparently came from a tribal village. The reason she was given away being that she wasn't pure. But yeah, aside from the best guess, nothing was known.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
17 Jul 16
I often wonder how many women kept skeletons in their closets regarding the paternity of their children in days of old. I imagine the number is quite high. This could be a reason for the inconsistency?
1 person likes this
@silvermist (19701)
• India
17 Jul 16
Until the results come out you can dream about
colorful possibilities about your ancestry. Well
dream on.
1 person likes this
@silvermist (19701)
• India
18 Jul 16
@Poppylicious And when you do get the results,I hope you let us know.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
19 Jul 16
@silvermist I will, I promise. :)
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
18 Jul 16
Yes, I shall just dream. *sigh*
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
17 Jul 16
i confess to gigglin', what a cute detail 'f such'n adventure. i'm waitin' my kit from 23and me here, i got into part'f their study'f ibd/crohn's so such'll be free. they'll gimme all the reports, though i've no interest'n my ancestry. fer me such'n adventure'll be 'n hopes'f 'xplainin' the diseases i've got, hopefully the research can find a cure/'r prevent others'n the future from sufferin' the same fate.
'course, gettin' the ancestry portion (i believe they include such's well?) 'd sure clear'p some family feuds 's to some'f our history'n my dad's side'f the family.
how long do ya reckon 'til ya get'cher results back, hon??
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
17 Jul 16
@Poppylicious i dunno if'n they keep a data base'f such?? this's anonymous with 23and me, supposedly anyhow. the researchers'll've access to the genetics 'n the info provided by folks who're'n this study. they're lookin' fer 10,000 folks to join'n this study. which i hope they achieve.
i'm glad'ja wrote'f this though. i've yet to receive my 'spit kit' 'n 'tis been nearly 3 weeks. reckon i ought'a get'n the horn tomorrow'n see if'n such's normal?? i know that some'f these places're quite back-logged when't comes to gettin' the results back to folks.
my wee grandson'd the need fer 'xtensive testin' 'n such took o'er 6 months to get back all the results...
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
17 Jul 16
It's supposed to be four to six weeks but it's dependent on how busy they are. It would be interesting if the ancestryDNA one asked for medical history so they could gather information and check for similarities, but I suppose there are valid reasons why they can't.
1 person likes this
@sunilparthan (6302)
• India
17 Jul 16
When you will get the result? Let we know about it .. ok
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
17 Jul 16
I would have preferred that ... it's so undignified to be sat in one's living room mustering up enough saliva to spit into a tiny tube!
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
17 Jul 16
You may. I think it costs somewhere in the region of ninety to one hundred pounds all in. Husband bought it as my main birthday present this year.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (22199)
• United States
18 Jul 16
I have been wanting to do that to see what I am, but I have never got around to doing it.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
19 Jul 16
You must ... we could be related!
1 person likes this
