I had 5 brothers. Now I have 4. A good friend is also one of whom were
6 siblings inclusive of he, now totalling 4.

Douglas described his brothers and sisters attributes/attitudes/ways
of being. It was as if he was describing my own family. The placement
of each sibling within the family was like a mirror image in regard to
my own.

The age old discussion of Nature vs Nurture is one thing. But what of
the order of placement within one's family? How might this differ from
say a family of 1 child, 2, 7 or 10?

Or as Julius Sumner Miller would have asked .. Why is it so?

Phil

Thank you for allowing me to comment on your interesting question.

The phenomenon that you have cited was investigated by British
scientist John Wyndham (1903-1969) in his seminal work 'The Midwich
Cuckoos' (1957).

Wyndham reported on the similarities of several children born to
different families. The children were all golden eyed, telepathic, and
with an accelerated growth rate.

I believe that you have established a prima facie case for the
Wyndhamic Syndrome. Further study is recommended.

What worries me is how you are able to tell each other apart.

Indeed, how can one be sure that this question was posed by you and
not by one of your look-alikes?

I hope that my research meets your expectations but if not ...

TOUGH!

Probo (not a Researcher but trying desperately hard).

Paul Theroux wrote a really interesting essay in praise of the middle child
- highly amusing

I have observed that the first child tends to be more likely to have
genetic defects which I suspect is some sort of 'throwback' mechanism
- possibly aggravated by inexperienced tubes. Without joking, I think
that 'sacrifice' of the first born might have been a rational survival
mechanism.

Also parents tend to be more nervous when it comes to the first one,
when it comes to the third or fourth they are positively blasee.

Given similar 'nuclear families' under similar physical circumstances,
it is not that surprizing that personalities should be heavily
influenced by the order of production.

My guess is things are down to: a bit of Nature and lot of Nurture

Phil,
perhaps this book might answer your question?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/080075977X/qid=1106568516/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/102-2638667-2796938?v=glance&s=books

Anne-Marie

Silver777 --

Actually, I'd recommend the original research on birth order, not the
pop knock off.  It's Frank Sulloway's "Born to Rebel," which is very
well done and surprisingly readable for an academic study:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679758763/qid=1106572605/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0810232-9416760?v=glance&s=books

Sulloway takes what we know about birth order, applies Darwinian
biology, and tests it in major revolutions -- including the French
Revolution and the revolution in scientific thinking that Darwin
brought about.  There are some stunning conclusions.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Frde .. some logical observations on your part. Do you have a
reference to Mr Theroux's essay?

Anne-Marie .. thanks for the direction. Looks like fun reading. I will
track down the books locally.

Omnivorous .. I just realised something. We have not crossed paths by
way of comment before. I have read your valued answers and informative
support to other questions, but this is the first time that we have
addressed one another. So, here's a handshake and a g'day to you.
Thanks for the reference and comment. I will source any books
suggested.

Thanks everyone. You're great.

Phil

Probo,

A separate entry just for you. I will try to brief, but I make no
promise! I know that you have to stand on your head to read my words
from Downunder. The following may be of mild passing interest.

What an interesting read you suggest. I am an open-minded cynic. How's
that for a contradiction in terms? However you did mention telepathy.
I was reading only yesterday how Cuckoos will lay an egg in the nest
of a chosen host. The hatched chick will push the other eggs and
newborns out. The Cuckoo outgrows the host parents and takes over.

I am currently reading "My Story", Dave Pelzer. A trilogy starting
with "A child called "It"". Like the cuckoo, "It" was fostered out.


Have you heard of Five Owl Farm, (York) as below? Like you, I don't
watch much TV, but I did enjoy this documentary.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200501/highlights/248209.htm


Looking just now in my "obviously cheap and old" atlas, I could not
find a reference to Hove, let alone Sussex. I promise to update to a
more comprehensive version. While scanning, I saw the Isle of Man.
Capital - Douglas. As in my reference within the question posted.

I buy the local paper only when I remember too, and usually only for
the cryptic crossword or real estate sales. January 20 has an article
on Ringo Starr and Brian Epstein. It was entitled "The doomed tale of
the life of Brian"
The page I wanted to refer to is the only one now missing from that
issue. It showed a picture of Ringo with his young wife in Hove,
Sussex.

Is it you with the telepathy Probo, or me just falling over coincidence?

Phil

Well, Phil, You are certainly very close:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=455063

All the Best

Bryan with a 'Y'

(A rare breed)

Party on at Phil?s again.

I think the resolution to your interesting question lies in the amount
of that sheep dip that you all drink. After three pints King Kong
would resemble any of your siblings and after ten, so would I.

There may be a grain of truth in that first born thing though. I was
to have had many brothers or sisters but after my parents took a look
at me they decided to do the noble thing and save the human race.

And Bryan, you are beginning to sound like Liza Manelli.

Liza Manelli, Norman?

I've searched the web fifty-five times without discovering who this
can possibly be.

I've even assumed that it might be a spelling mistake but I have
substituted each letter in turn with the 25 others but still NOWT!

I fear that I shall now have to ask Anne-Marie to try to unravel your
quaint Phlegmish writings.

You have evidently lived in your Schelleter for too long.

Puzzled of Hove

Typo I?m afraid Bryan,

Should have been Liza Minnelli, friend of Sinatra et. al. My Italian
is even worse than my Dutch. She sang a really crummy song about Liza
with a ?z? not Lisa with an ?s?. Hope this clears it up for you.

Norman

Norman,

Perhaps you shouldnt take Puzzled of Hove to seriously?
BTW you did a pretty fast job in rewiring your house...........

AM

Norman

You say this mysterious Liza is a friend of Sinatra and Al.

Al? 

Al Jolson? 

Al Martino?

I am still having trouble with your Phlegmish. 

Anne-Marie, Is there an on-line translation service that you can recommend?

Many thankees

Puzzled & Bewildered of Hove

http://www.pulpmovies.com/blog/2003/09/398

just for fun.........

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/world/world_languages/dutch.html

AM

It was Al Ibaba, they named a basket after him, you should have heard about it.

Norman

Hi Maid Anne-Marie,

Some great links for Probo, I am going to save them and try them out
later. I thought the Dutch sandwich lunch was a pintjer between two
pieces of bread! I remember when I first came to Belgium many years
ago, I went to the local baguettery each morning and asked for a
sandwich and I couldn?t understand why I kept getting these funny
little soft ?brodjes? that wouldn?t feed a sparrow. I didn?t know how
to ask for two pieces of bread with something in between. One day I
heard someone say ?Here comes the Englishman, better make a sandwich?.
A good case for learning the language!

Btw. Any clues as to why your second link says ?Spreekt u Nederlands
besides a picture of the Eifel Tower?

The electrics are still not finished I?m afraid. I realise I had
better tell you a bit more of the story otherwise you will wonder what
is going on. I had my own place in England but I am renting this place
from a half relative. Every time; like every, time I see him I say
?Whenever I put more than two electrical things on at the same time,
the house goes dark?. He even started avoiding me (I wonder where I
learned that trick from). Eventually He bit the bullet and decided to
do it. To save money he decided to surface run a second system and to
leave the original one to rot in the walls. I don?t mind, it is his
house, I just want something that works like it should. At present we
are still on the old system. Maybe the big switchover will happen at
the weekend, maybe.

Hi there Norman,

Not sure why you get to see the Eifel tower 
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz.cfm?qid=193483&origin=......

thanks for explaining......
Ill hope for you it will work out!!!

and huh....asking for a "sandwich" would work out fine in Holland when
you would like to have 2 pieces of bread with "something" in
between...........

okay...got that one .........

the clips on that"Spreekt U Nederlands" site change every time you open it........