Thursday, December 03, 2009

Mormon Mafia



My friend Bridget posted this on FaceBook and said, "I can't stop watching this." I can't stop watching it either. The "moving my hips like 'yeah'" is so hypnotic. But, that's not what I want to talk about.

Both of us just know that this guy is Mormon. But how are we so sure? Sometimes I see women at the library or wherever and they look Mormon, so I casually look for clues. Nine out of ten times, I can spot some dead giveaway, like a Young Women's bag or a glimpse of their garments as they wrestle their kids.

It's not like being able to spot Mormon churches. One time, I was up in Half Moon Bay with Candie on a Sunday, and we were driving to church. I had never been to that building before, so we were driving along the street slowly, looking for addresses. I looked up ahead a little and saw it on the left and said, "oh, it's up there." It was probably 150 yards away and obscured by the building next to it, so Candie didn't believe me.

Me: That's it. Trust me.
Candie: But how do you know?
Me: I just. Know.

All the churches kind of have the same sort of architectural style with a steeple instead of a cross so once you've been to 40 or 50, they become pretty easy to pick out.

But, what about the people? Is it their squeaky-clean look? Their penchant for doing silly things like making a movie of themselves doing ASL to Miley Cyrus?

Or, is this my superpower?

11 comments:

Emily said...

Well, I think it is your super-power. And you've done this as long as I can remember. Remember when you came to visit *me* (as I'm sure I was the only one you were coming to see) in Utah and you played "Mormon, NOT mormon" You were good then, you're good now.

Vivian said...

One of my current theories is that its is because a lot of Mormons are genealogically related. One time Jerry's brother was looking in a book called "Descendants of Nathan Tanner" to figure out if he and his then fiance had common ancestry, and they did. He found his family line, hers, and then... mine.
So this guy looks familiar to you because he is your (and my) 4th cousin.

Brian said...

That vid made my 1:30 am feeding that much better. And yea... Totally a Mormon.
steph

Tyler Ball said...

I want to know how many times Brian needs to feed in the middle of the night.

Myriah Cohen said...

Do you think, when that guy goes out dancing, that he actually has moves, or do you think he just signs everything?

Also, I couldn't watch the whole thing. It made my stomach churn.

And, I think perhaps you do have a super power. Or excellent deductive skillz, which is kind of like a super power.

Carrie G said...

This guy totally has the same fascinating talent that Steve, the first Blue's Clues guy had, where they should be a total dork, doing what they're doing, but somehow they manage to rise above it. And then you can't look away.

Bridget said...

I found this video too, but is it the same guy? If so, he doesn't look quite so Mormony in this one. But it is still fascinating to me. I LOVE his facial expressions.

AmandaStretch said...

Hi, I just blogsurfed my way here from Chantel's blog and was intrigued by this post. I love playing that game, but I call it "Spot the Mo".

Incidentally, I was curious by the question about this dude (after being mesmerized by this song), so I decided to put my librarian super sleuth skills to the test.

Turns out that

1)I think in the Mormon Blog world it should be Six Degrees of Bridget (and I say that with all the love a blogstalker can give),

2)Mr. ASL Guy and I have an obscure mutual friend, and

3)he is not actually Mormon.

4)Also, I'm a nerd. I love looking stuff up so much that I do it for people who write blogs I've never visited before.

So, I hope you don't mind. A good magician never reveals their methods, but if you'd like to know how I figured it out, I'd be happy to share.

Thanks for the interesting challenge!

Bridget said...

AmandaStretch, I would love to hear how you reached your results!

OK, if he isn't Mormon, what I would like to know is if he has Mormon roots, or Utah roots, or something. I mean, come on, we all know he has that look of Mormon provenance. There's gotta be something there.

AmandaStretch said...

Sure thing! It's actually not terribly complicated, but here goes:

I went to the video on YouTube and found his real name, which I then Googled and found his Twitter page, which I skimmed, figuring he'd say something revealing one way or another. Sure enough, in mid-November he mentions drinking chardonnay. I had my suspicions earlier when he talks about a tweet-up on a Sunday night, but I wasn't sure. He never mentions anything religious at all. I also looked him up on his other sites (Facebook, blog, etc.) and have figured that he's 20 and definitely not on a mission.

So, I'm pretty sure he's not Mormon, but he might have connections thereof. Our one mutual friend is a devout atheist. If I were to dig too much deeper, it might cross that line from curious blog stalker to full on stalker. :)

Bridget said...

Good to know! I guess the conclusion is, he SHOULD be Mormon.

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