Holliday Junction = Party Function

I know you pretty well. So I know that what you have been really wondering is why a Holliday Junction is in fact called a Holliday junction. I'm sure you've probably lost sleep over it. It is a pretty intense philosophical question. Why is anything called anything? Why is blue blue and why is the sky the sky? Think about it.

Unlike you,  I wasn't mystified by this nomenclature. I knew why it was called that. I thought to myself "Isn't it pretty obvious?" So I have been sitting here in my smug little ways as people try to understand Holliday Junctions.

For those of you who don't know what a Holliday Junction is it is basically a type of crossing over/recombination/exchange of genetic information. During the process, there is a time when all 4 strands of DNA are connected - this is the Holliday Junction (Science!!).

So for some time we have been talking about these things in class because some transposons use this mechanism during their exchange of DNA from one strand to another.

Anyway, just looking at the pic, you can tell why it is called a Holliday Junction right? All four strands of DNA are connected and having a party at a junction... which is kind of like a function!? So naturally party functions = Holliday Junctions. Right?

NO. Not right. Holliday Junctions are called Holliday because of Robin Holliday who discovered it.

Honestly, who would have thought that? Not me! So here I have been for who knows how long thinking that Holliday Junctions were a party exchange situation.

Another thing I can add to my long list of common sense things I was unaware of. Like how est. after a year of a company means established and not estimated (My mom had a real kick about that one). Or how pickles are actually cucumbers... MIND BLOWN!

Apparently I missed out on common sense day growing up. Which is how I have come to be known as the dumbest smart person a lot of people know.