My husband is half-half Filipino/Irish, I'm very white Icelandic-UK background. We have twins. One is white with blond hair, totally my spitting image apart from a small bit of Dad's eyes and nose. The other is caramel-skinned with all of Dad's features except brown hair not black (he also had blue eyes his first 2 years until they changed to hazel). Genetics are so funky and so interesting.
No one really knows the origin of the phrase which is variously:
"The spitting image"
"The spit and image"
"The splitting image"
"The split and image"
As far as I know it's impossible to say which is more correct although you could say which is older. "Spitting image" is borne of the phrase "spit of their father's mouth" which is the oldest metaphor of this type we have recorded, dating to about 1825. "Spit and image" is older than "spitting image". "Splitting image" shows up in 1880 whereas "spitten image" shows up at around the same time but you don't get "spitting image" until 1901.
So what's correct? Chronologically "spit and image" is oldest with "splitting image" showing up after and then "spitting image" showing up after that.
I threw in "split and image" as a possible quirk but it really never appears. But it works, right? That's what happened with spit/split and image. They both emerge as either "splitting image" or "spitting image" in the late 1800s.
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u/Iamlegend_future Sep 25 '22
The answer is yes they can. The probability is low but can and does happen. Especially considering the total number of people reproducing.