A woman told me this the other day in an argument (if you can believe this) about the validity of astrology and I have had no luck finding any information on the subject whatsoever. Anyone? Could this be true and if it is - could it be coincidence or caused by some other phenomena? Please help (I know it’s trivial). Thank you.
Sound like a bunch of poop. My brother is a gemini and he has no twin. And after an informal poll at work the 2 other gemini’s here have no twins. I think that woman is nuts.
First of all, welcome to the SDMB ahidell.
I don’t have specific data to answer your question, but I’m willing to bet dollars-to-donuts that it’s bunk.
What I can give you, however, is this:
According to Mommyguide.com the chance of having twins (depending on your ethnicity) ranges from about 7 to 20 pregnancies per thousand.
It is also safe to say that with some minor variation, 1/12 of all births occur under the sign of Gemini. (That’s apx. 500,000,000 Geminis!!). Given the frequency of twins (cited above), I highly doubt it’s possible that 80% of them are twins.
Zev Steinhardt
The burden of proof should rest upon the person making such a bold claim, it’s not up to you to disprove it (which you can’t because you won’t find any information saying it’s not true, that’s exactly why these sort of things gain credibility*)
Ask her where she read this.
I’m betting she either didn’t read it anywhere and has accepted it as gospel from someone else, or she read it in some freaky magazine.
Besides, if such a significant statistic was true, would only a few people know about it?
Thinking a bit more about this
We can disprove this, if we can be bothered to try:
if it was true, this would mean:
Either the admissions to the labour ward between 21 may and 21 June are roughly the same as any other period of equal duration, but significantly more babies come are wheeled out.
or that there should be a significant drop in the number of admissions to the labour ward between 21 May and 21 June, but no drop in the number of babies coming out, but this in turn should mean that significantly less women fall pregnant in late August/early September.
or some combination of both, but my money is still on the horse feathers.
BTW, I’m (supposedly)Gemini, and hey, I have a sister, so it must be true, oh, except she’s 3 years older than me and was born in July, but apart from that, it’s amazing.
Of course 80% of all Geminis are actually twins. And I’m one of the 80% of Scorpios that actually have stingers in our tails. Seriously, though, 100% of Virgos were virgins at some point…
Hey! my kids are Gemini and they are twins. But my cousin and uncle are Gemini and they are not. But they were born on the same day (12 years apart.)
This must mean that 50% of Gemini’s are twins and that the rest of them were born on the same day.
You just can’t beat logic like that.
80 % of pisces have fish faces. That is a true fact.
I heard that 80% of cancerians have crabs.
Right now, approximately 100% of Taureans are saying “bull.”
80% of Geminis are twins when conceived. One twin usually kills the other within days after conception. The remaining one keeps this violent side of his/her personality hidden, as every true Gemini does.
Welcome to the SDMB, Lee.
and Aquarius suggests they’re all wet … ramming ahead here, I’d be lion’ if I didn’t say bull like this makes me crabby. On balance, it really gets my goat, I observe, archly.
100% of us Capricorns are horny as a goat and cold as a fish.
And this explains Mrs. Bandersnatch.
And, being an Aries, I am of course hung like a… oh, no wait a minute, I’m not. Damn.
You must be! We Aries are always right and know it, even when we’re not.
The statement is nonsense from several points of view, most of which have been noted already.
Surely the main point, however, is that there is nothing in astrological lore which says someone born under the sign of Gemini ought to be a twin, any more than a Libran ought to bear a startling resemblance to a pair of scales. Resemblance of a person to the traditional depiction of their one-twelfth of the astrological calendar is simply not an astrological teaching, and I defy ths woman to find it stated in any astrological textbook.
The only supposed figurative ‘resemblance’ is between the constellation and the item it is named after i.e. it is assumed that a very long time ago, when the traditional names of the star signs arose, someone (e.g. the Chaldeans) perceived a resemblance between the constellation we call Gemini and mythological twins. The fact that this alleged resemblance is hard or impossible to see is not the point.
The original claim is, needless to say, preposterous. However, I do think I know what lies behind it.
Statistical studies have indeed shown some seasonal variations in the birth rates for twins.
http://www.multiplebirth.com/first.htm (section II.E and figs. 6 and 7)
Doubtless there are other studies which show other variations. It all does seem to depend on the time and the place covered by the particular sample. I can well believe that supporters of astrology have at some point made selective use of such studies to claim that there is a small increase in twin births during Gemini. I would therefore suggest that your friend has grossly exaggerated a claim which was probably pretty dodgy in the first place. There are of course other, much more obvious explanations for any of these seasonal variations.
99% of all gargoyles look like Bob Todd.
We Aries don’t believe in astrology.