There’s a Plus to Being a Mongrel

I recently had my DNA tested to find out about where my ancestors may have scattered their genes over the centuries. The news was enlightening, a bit disturbing but also pleasing.

It became crystal clear that I am a mixed breed, which led me to the dictionary where the word mongrel appeared. Now mongrel is not a word I would normally use to describe myself or others. In fact, mongrel conjures up a picture of a disheveled dog, roaming streets unattended, and being unruly, somewhat wild, unkempt and scruffy.

I think of mongrels always as dogs…not cats, not people, not birds, just dogs. I’ve known that mongrels didn’t just apply to dogs, but my mental image was of a pitiful and perhaps scary canine. And I would guess most people have the same visual interpretation.

However, Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition for mongrel reads:

1. an individual resulting from the interbreeding of diverse breeds or strains; especially :  one of unknown ancestry
2. a cross between types of persons or things
3. a person or thing of mixed origin

Thus, I am a mongrel, as probably most of us are. I am a result of interbreeding of diverse breeds, with some unknown ancestry; I am a person of mixed origins and I am a cross between various types of people. Yep, my gene pool means I display tendencies of being wild, unruly, unkempt, and sometimes quite pitiful.

This realization explains so much about me, and allows excuses for my odd and often erratic behavior. Remember, I’m a mongrel.

And the news about humans being mongrels has another positive aspect and may explain why we live so long. Merriam-Webster notes:

mongrels often suffer fewer health problems than purebreds,

and that, my friends, is a good thing, a really, good thing.

 

Thanks to Linda Hill for the recent jusjojan daily prompt of Mongrel.

https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/08/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-8th17/