Imitating your parents

[Atsull]

Is there anything your parents did when you were a kid that you thought was so cool that you just had to be able to do it, and it's stuck with you forever? My dad always puts out matches with a flick of his wrist rather than blowing on it. I remember sitting in the bathroom with a full book of matches practicing so I could do it. I still never blow on matches. What about you guys?

[Haruki-kun]

Oh, man. This is the silliest thing ever, but...

My mom shuffled cards. It wasn't like a super-amazing card trick or anything, she just did that thing where you shuffle them, then you fold them in an arch upwards and they slide back into an almost straight deck. I thought it was awesome and it took me forever but I finally got it down. And now people ask me "whoa, how do you do that?" because apparently it's not as common as I thought it was (though it's not as rare as I thought it was when I was 8).

EDIT: I'm talking about this thing.

[TheThan]

Oh, man. This is the silliest thing ever, but...

My mom shuffled cards. It wasn't like a super-amazing card trick or anything, she just did that thing where you shuffle them, then you fold them in an arch upwards and they slide back into an almost straight deck. I thought it was awesome and it took me forever but I finally got it down. And now people ask me "whoa, how do you do that?" because apparently it's not as common as I thought it was (though it's not as rare as I thought it was when I was 8).

EDIT: I'm talking about this thing.

It's called a bridge (no not the game), professional card handlers (gamblers, magicians et) don't do it because It bends the cards a little.

[Jaycemonde]

My dad taught me how to be stubborn and confrontational :U

I guess I picked up my habit of opening umbrellas like I'm swinging some kind of collapsible sword from my mom.

[Crow]

My mom taught me to tie a cleat hitch by "whipping" the line at the cleat. I thought it was the coolest thing. It is actually really easy, but every once in a while I still get an opportunity to do it. People who don't go on boats often are like "whoa!"

The coolest time was after I was all grown up. We were riding this boat on the Congo river. As we pulled up to the little dock, I hopped off with the line in one hand and an AK in the other, and tied down the boat in a snap. The locals were like "DUDE" (Or whatever the french version of stunned amazement is).

[Dumbledore lives]

I was thinking of a similar thread to this, whether we intentionally try to do things our parents do, or rebel against it or what.

In terms of things that we do I hate to use new glasses or plates. When I was relatively younger my dad told me to stop using a new glass every time I wanted a drink, so now I use the same glass for days, sometimes just cleaning the same one and then continuing to use it without making much effort. Same with plates, though they tend to get dirtier a lot quicker than water glasses.

[sktarq]

This was something I didn't want imitate them in. However, I too found chess and crossword a very good way of bonding with my SO's. Varies on how much depending on my GF over the years but with one the breakfast X-word and for us dinner chess game (for my parents it was lunch) was uncanny.

[Haruki-kun]

It's called a bridge (no not the game), professional card handlers (gamblers, magicians et) don't do it because It bends the cards a little.

I'll never stop doing it now.

I've never had trouble with cards bending as long as they're good cards. Two dollar next-to-the-register cards I just assume won't last long.

[TheThan]

I’ve seen cards get bent out of shape because of people doing it. But it’s not usually a big deal to most people, just professionals who stake their livelihood on being really good with cards.

[Lentrax]

Learned a couple tricks from my uncle. None of them work anymore, silly people with their math skills and whatnot.

I also got from my parents, my knowledge of the porn industry. The internet scene, and light BDSM.

Oh and indifference to things not actively leading to me getting laid.


Screwed up ain't it?

[Grinner]

Learned a couple tricks from my uncle. None of them work anymore, silly people with their math skills and whatnot.

What were they, and how were they invalidated?

[GPuzzle]

My father knew how to whistle while drinking water.

It was amazing. I still don't know how to do it, not that it matters, seeing as I can barely whistle.

[warty goblin]

I have reached the conclusion that to a first order approximation I'm a convex combination of my mother and father; me = alpha*Mom + (1 - alpha)*Dad, alpha in (0, 1). I dress basically like my Dad, I work in a similar field, I have the same constant tension between the soulless feeling urban life that follows from my intellectual endeavors, and the rural one that never stops feeling more genuine but doesn't allow for the mental work that I still love. And I love handwork and craft like my Mom, and find I value more and more of the same things she does as time passes.

[Rivers]

Breathing fire from powdered corn starch. Though I'm not very good at it.

Also, something I learned from them and even surpassed (mwahahahaha) is the bird hypnosis trick. It started with the chalk line thing for chicken and years later, I found it also works with sparrows and canaries. With some less elusive species, staring and mesmerizing them with one hand pointing two fingers focus all their attention so you can just lay a hand below their beak.
For all this time I thought it required some mysterious skill, but I've just realized it has to do with tonic immobility. Still amazing to see at live. (you should try it!)

[PallElendro]

Father's Examples

• Fencing
• Making spreadsheets for everything that can use a spreadsheet
• Sync-sing to white people rapping
• Make awesome food from scraps
• Make stupid jokes
• Do things the lazy way
• Make geeky references to Star Trek and Doctor Who, to the chagrin of my girlfriend.
• Interest in maths
• Britney Spears and Spice Girls music

Paternal Grandparents' Examples

• Make awesome Hungarian food
• Be managerial
• Interest in science
• Originally baroque ensemble, but moved to orchestra
• Pinch out a candle with wet fingers. Plan to try that on my eighteenth birthday as a party trick for my friends.

General Family Examples

• Be chill
• Debate science and maths
• Watch Game of Thrones when neither the stepmother nor the grandmother is around
• Quote Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Monty Python, Red Dwarf, Breaking Bad, Arrested Development, and House of Cards. Pretty sure my girlfriend really wants to hit me for them.
• Interest in PopCap games
• Trance music

My dad's family is cool.

[Oneris]

My grandpa makes the best scallion pancakes ever, so I had him teach me when he came to visit several years ago. It was good that I learned then, because he went senile pretty quickly after.

Actually, cooking in general. My parents' food always seem taste so much better than everything else, but they swear there's no secret. I still can't figure out how they do it, with no recipes or anything.

[Jay R]

I started to compile the list. It grew so large and so quickly that now I just want to thank them for everything they taught me.

[Gaelbert]

It wasn't until I left home that I realized exactly how many of my jokes and how much of my sense of humor came directly from my father. If any of my friends meet my parents they almost always comment on it.

[Lady Moreta]

Almost my entire personality comes from my mother. I am very much a carbon-copy of her.

The one thing that really sticks out in my mind as something I picked up from her though, is probably my habit of talking to inanimate objects that talk to you. Specifically, at the multi-story carpark we used to park at in the city (it's not useable any more, there was an earthquake... or two) the box you got your parking ticket from used to say 'please take your ticket' as you pulled up and pushed the button. For years my mother would respond to this with a slightly sarcastic imitation of the box's voice (it was a recording of a woman I think). It eventually grew into talking back to anything that had some sort of automated recording, or voices coming over speakers. We traveled a lot, and spent a lot of time in airports where announcements would come over the system occassionaly. It was pretty much guaranteed that my mother would have something to say.

Skip ahead in time to myself. In the past few years a lot of supermarkets here have installed self-checkouts. These machines talk at you, and have a lot of messages up on the screen. I simply cannot help myself. Every time one pops up, I am forced into responding.

In general, I blame my mother for most of my quirks. She freely admits it.

[BWR]

Sadly, not much imitation here. Afew turns of phrases are most of what I've inherited, apart from a passion for reading and an interest in science. I would be a much better person if I emulated my father.

[Knaight]

I pretty much purloined my dad's sense of humor, along with more than a few speech affectations. I also got into bicycling because of my parents, and while I'm less into it than either of them (I don't consider 50 miles a reasonable daily commute), it's an obvious trait. Beyond that it's generally less obvious, less surface level things.

Then there's fashion. My paternal line has a thing for vests - by which I mean an understanding of their objective excellence - and that got passed down to me.

[Anarion]

My mom can whistle with two fingers in her mouth so that it's REALLY loud. I've been trying to learn it forever and I still can't do it. My dad also does most of the house plumbing and carpentry, which I've never gotten the hang of but always wish I could do. Dang wizard parents.

One that both my parents do is they drive manual transmission cars. Although I was initially resistant to learn it because I kept killing my Mom's car, I eventually started to get it and now I really like them better and always prefer to drive them over an automatic.

I also really wanted to learn to make French toast like my mom, which I did learn and it tastes awesome.

[TechnOkami]

*reads thread op, thinks of all the ways I'm not like my parents instead*

But no, I'll try to play along by the original rules. Hum... I suppose I enjoy singing, and both of my parents were in choir while in college, so that probably rubbed off on me in wanting to give it a whirl. I enjoy good food & know how to cook, both traits coming from my Dad (& have a deep enjoyment of authentic traditional and/or just plain good delicatessens of [insert nationality/culture here]). I dress a lot like my dad (shorts, t-shirt). I like a lot of the same music like my dad (classic rock, jazz, classical, heavy metal, metal, bluegrass, folk music, etc.). I'm having a harder time coming up with things I picked up from my mom... I think we're just fairly different people, but get along well regardless. Um... love of movies?

[Jay R]

Dad used to disapprove of the inaccurate guns in movies. "That's an 1870s Remington in a Civil War flick."

I now do the same thing with inaccurate swordplay.

[enderlord99]

I also really wanted to learn to make French toast like my mom, which I did learn and it tastes awesome.

Is one of the ingredients Triple Sec liqueur?

[Anarion]

Is one of the ingredients Triple Sec liqueur?

No, but if you're holding out on us with a good liquor based recipe, now's the time to share. Mine is just bread, eggs and butter with the proper pans and cook time, and proper balance of toppings after.

[enderlord99]

No, but if you're holding out on us with a good liquor based recipe, now's the time to share. Mine is just bread, eggs and butter with the proper pans and cook time, and proper balance of toppings after.

I don't know the exact recipe*, but it involves both Triple Sec and plain ol' orange juice. It's okay for people under 21 because the alcohol boils out while you're frying it. Also, as far as I can tell, it only works properly when using a thickly-sliced (Around one to two inches, I think, though I'm not sure) baguette. It also involves soaking it in the fridge overnight.

So... yeah...

*I hope my mom teaches me eventually; I suppose I could ask, but I'm only 18, so the answer would probably be something like "maybe in three years."


Also, liquor and liqueur are different.

[Anarion]

I don't know the exact recipe*, but it involves both Triple Sec and plain ol' orange juice. It's okay for people under 21 because the alcohol boils out while you're frying it. Also, as far as I can tell, it only works properly when using a thickly-sliced (Around one to two inches, I think, though I'm not sure) baguette. It also involves soaking it in the fridge overnight.

So... yeah...

*I hope my mom teaches me eventually; I suppose I could ask, but I'm only 18, so the answer would probably be something like "maybe in three years."

That seems rather engaged, and likely problematic when you can't buy the ingredients yourself.

The hardest part of anything that requires marinating overnight is the fact that it has to occur to you that you need to prepare at least one night before you want to eat it.

Also, liquor and liqueur are different.

They certainly are, but I find the world in which I can confuse them to be a more pleasant one, all things considered.

[enderlord99]

Okay, I found the recipe:

Combine 6 eggs, 2/3 cup orange juice, 1/3 cup Triple Sec, 1/3 cup milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and a bit of vanilla. Pour over 12 1-inch slices of French bread. Let soak overnight in the refrigerator. Fry 7-10 minutes on each side at around 245 degrees Fahrenheit (118 Celsius.) Officially, you're supposed to dust with powdered sugar, but I'm not sure if we actually do that. Finally, they're served with either maple (100% real maple, not the artificial stuff) or berry (most blackberry/raspberry hybrids are great, including tayberry, marionberry, and loganberry; pure raspberry or blackberry work but not as well; other types of berry... we haven't really tested) syrup. Sometimes we put whipped cream and strawberries on it, in which case the syrup chosen is more likely to be maple rather than berry; if using whipped cream and strawberries, we usually put the strawberries on after the whipped cream but before the syrup... yes, I know this squashes the whipped cream, but it's how we generally do things; the order of toppings probably doesn't matter much.

Sorry about the wall-of-text recipe; I have trouble summarizing.

Also, we're going to have them tomorrow this morning. Yum!

[WalkingTarget]

My dad and I watched movies together and I still enjoy the types of things we watched (James Bond films so I enjoy spy movies of just about any sort, stuff by Hitchcock so I like thrillers, etc.). The ability to remember who was in what film and pick them out in other films later ("oh, that's the guy who played [whatsisname] in [other movie]") was something I got from him. This developed into a generalized trivia mindset. It may have been something I'd have been good at anyway, but movie trivia with dad is something I remember specifically. One in particular that I remember was watching the first Tim Burton Batman on VHS and recognizing that the crooked detective was played by the same guy who played Porkins/Red Six in the original Star Wars. My dad stopped the tape, swapped it to Star Wars, fast-forwarded to the Death Star battle and gave me a "Good call." Ten-year-old me was very proud of himself.

Of course, the advent of the web, IMDB, and then wikis in general along with the ability to carry around a pocket computer everywhere has reduced the "need" for such a skill.