Originally published at: Do you have Dupuytren's disease? Then it's likely you are part Neanderthal | Boing Boing
…
3 Likes
My father will be surprised to hear this! Maybe Bill Nighy will, too. 
12 Likes
Most non African people are part Neanderthal.
8 Likes
I didn’t know there was a name for this. I think that this is pretty common on one side of my family, lots of curved pinkies. As for being part Neanderthal:
Question about this:
Aren’t Scandinavians a subset of Northern Europeans?
7 Likes
Did Scandinavia get moved recently?
12 Likes
The Nordic countries are the only area that is consistently Northern European. The Balkans Baltic, Britain and Ireland are sometimes included, but not always.
Edit:
Corrected my mistake.
9 Likes
10 Likes
I think Nordic countries include the Scandinavian countries, as well as others like Finland and Iceland. Scandinavian would be a subset of the broader term, but applied to countries rather than people.
1 Like
My point was that they are the core group of Northern Europeans, not the afterthought that the original journalist thought.
@Brainspore
I don’t think England is on planet Earth anymore. It split off like some bizzaro version of Aman
9 Likes
Oh! We were on the same page.
3 Likes
Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?
3 Likes
5 Likes
I’m Dutch and have Dupuytren in both hands, bent pinkies mostly, with some extensions to my right ring finger, and have had surgery in each hand twice. In the Netherlands it is also known as koetsiershand, which translates as coachman’s hand. My dad suffered from it, too. Interesting to know I might be part Neanderthal.
8 Likes
One shot for the win!
I think the trade name is Xiaflex… helps a ton for most people, and NO SURGERY.
1 Like
Didn’t know what Dupuytren’s was, thought it might be related to Peyronie’s, but it ain’t.
Must suck for string players to get it. I’m a lifelong guitarist and…hypochondriac too…is it me or do my left hand fingers seem to feel a bit stiff?
One Bing and I find Thatcher and Reagan both had it, too.
1 Like
I think I’ve seen this - an old co-worker had one hand that was always contorted into a claw, which he’d had since very young (which is apparently atypical). One day he had his hand injected with magic hand dissolver (possibly not its proper medical name) and then the day after had his hand physically wrenched into shape.
It was the most amazing transformation, and I felt very happy for him.
2 Likes
A friend of mine was a pianist until her disease progressed to where she couldn’t play anymore. Devestating.
4 Likes
Only famous case of this I recall in the UK was Margaret Thatcher but she died before getting the horns and barbed tail…
What?
But she definitely did speak with a forked tongue.
