Do blue eyes run in your family?

Today we will be looking at an idiom that is often used in a medical situation or when you are talking about your family.

~runs in the family

 This means that a characteristic is very common in your family.

Blue eyes run in our family.

Meaning many people have blue eyes in my family, my father, my grandfather, my brother, my cousins, my great-grandfather, etc.

Twins run in the family.

Meaning that many people in my family give birth to twins. My mother was a twin, my cousins had twins, my grand-father was a twin, etc.


This will sometimes show up when you talk about your family.

Alice: Your son is a fantastic basketball player!

Mary: Thanks, he's a chip off the old block. His father was an all-state basketball star in high school.

Alice: I guess it runs it the family!

A chip off the old block is an idiom used when talking about how kids resemble their parents. It is usually used by fathers to say their kids are just like them. 

To run in the family, is also commonly heard in medical situations:

Doctor: I'm sorry to say you have a rare genetic disorder...

Patient: Is it ichthyosis? My Father had that...

Doctor: Yes it is, it runs in families. Don't worry, it is just a skin condition that is easily treatable with modern skin creams.

Patient: Yeah, I know. Thanks Doc, I was just hoping it would skip a generation.

To skip a generation is when a characteristic that runs in families goes from grand-parents to grand-children skipping the generation in between.

Have a nice weekend,

Phil