@ Clem.. your friend was right .. it is because it has one OH group .. and amino acids are different .. they do not have only an OH group..
they have COOH .. which is the functional group for carboxylic acids.. but thats not the case anywyas they polymerise because they have two different functional groups placed end to end on their molecule .. so u have to visualize .. u see.. they form a polymer each and evrytime
by adding on to the different group endings .. sorta like laterally inverting evrytime ..
so basically ..yeah ethane, 1,2 diol can polymerise because it has two functional group at both the endings.. whereas butan-1-ol .. just has one.. so it cant link up continuously..