DS1 can do that cloverleaf tongue trick but neither DH or I can.

[Nevergarglebrandybutter]

I thought tongue rolling was genetic?

hospital baby swap? he does seem much noisier than the rest of us.

haha yes it is genetic.... but luckily for you and DS it's a bit more complicated than just having to have one parent who can do it

here

should one grandparent be able to do it then?

oh now yo're just making it complicated!!! lol

i don't think so because you can apparently pass the gene on without actually showing it yourself... so not necessarily.

my understanding of these things is fairly basic unfortunately

Same here. DS1 can do it but none of his siblings or us, his parents can do do it. However, one of his grandparents can do it so I assumed he got it from her via my DH.

i think we'll keep him regardless, he's kind of grown on us over the 7 years.

Are you sure you or DH can't do it. It took me til I was an adult to discover that I could!

Oooo, I know this! It's carried by the recessive gene which means both parents can carry the gene but it not show as the dominant gene shows, i.e.

Both parents are Tt (T being the dominant gene & t the recessive gene); put the two together and you get the following possible combinations - TT, Tt, tT & tt. Only the tt would be a tongue roller. So if you both carry the recessive gene you have a 1 in 4 chance of having a tongue roller DC. And Grandparents don't have to be able to do it either but at least one of them (on each side of the family) would have to carry the recessive gene.

Anyone still with me or should I go back to my

DH, DS1 and DD can.

DS2 and I can't.

Oh how they laugh at us

I can. DD (4) keeps practising

I get you Blackpudding. Good explanation.

ahh but the weird thing is that the tongue-rolling gene is actually dominant... that's why it's used in schools in lessons on genes "if one of your parents can roll their tongues then you will be able to as well"

Did he have a tongue tie which was snipped? I wonder if the "tongue rolling" gene is actually something to do with tongue tie...

Both my ds and my nephew can roll their tongue (so can most of the family) but they can also do a clover leaf and fold their tongue backwards so it is flat -

Here's a good tongue roller (right at the end ) ]

ds1 had a tongue tie which wasn't snipped and he can roll his tongue

ds2 had a tongue tie that was snipped and he also can

I have one that wasn't snipped and I can't

no tongue tie.
i definitely can't as practised as a teenager because my friend could do it.
i shall be testing out the grandparents over christmas.

Well both my parents can do it but I can't. My dd can as can dh and both his parents and sister. Ds too young to tell but by the sounds of things I'll be the lone weirdo with the unfit tongue in the family!

I read somewhere that it isn't genetic at all, but a learned skill.