Thursday, April 24, 2008

My Mom Pillages Better than Your Mom!

Yesterday I got back the results from a mitochondrial DNA test we did for one of my classes.* For those out there who don't know about all this DNA stuff, your mtDNA basically just comes down your maternal line, so you can use it to trace your ancestory back through the ages, though only down the maternal line.

How did mine work out? Basically, the closest matches for me come out of Iceland, closely followed by England and Norway. In other words, vikings!

Tomorrow I plan to begin a reign of terror, sacking churches, pillaging villages, drinking mead, fighting trolls, and raping maidens. If anyone tries to stop me, I'll sue you for being culturally insensitive ... plus, I'll put an axe through your head.

To recap, my maternal ancestors may have looked like this:


... but I prefer to think they looked like this:



*Yes, if you took classes from me, you'd do cool stuff like have your mtDNA tested. Yes, that means that your current school is boring and stupid. Tranfer to Troy and enroll in my classes immediately!

9 comments:

  1. If ever I find myself at Troy I expect to be able to test my mtDNA immediately! =)

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  2. Anonymous12:58 PM

    Wait -- what? You got to do this? For which class?

    As a Troy student, I feel very slighted that I wasn't given this opportunity. I'm so disappointed I'm going to use an emoticon. =(

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  3. (delurking) So, which haplogroup? Mine is sort of Vikingish too: J*. And my furthest documentable ancestor in the maternal line was in Norway. But most of my matches are in the UK.

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  4. Nina,

    It was for the interdisciplinary class (IDS). Perhaps I should remind you that you were PERSONALLY invited to enroll for the class by one of the three fantastic professors teaching it!

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  5. Anonymous1:11 PM

    Ahh...the IDS course.

    I was informed that the IDS courses do not count toward the English classes I need to complete my degree, unfortunately. Again, another emoticon: >_<

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  6. If you had asked me about that, I would have informed you otherwise. Alas, alas!

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  7. this is wrong in so many ways. but so typical of you.

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  8. Where did you get that photo of me in braids?

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  9. Cool English majors get their DNA tested!

    --Erin Hotep
    (Irish/Egyptian English Major)

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