# Desperate mom of twins calls police when she can't tell them apart **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2023, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141 "2023-03-14T06:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/21 "2023-03-14T17:07:53Z")
Knew seeing this would come in handy someday! You shave numbers in their head! [[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199605/Hairs-looking-kids-Chinese-quadruplets-numbers-shaved-heads-teacher-tell-apart.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199605/Hairs-looking-kids-Chinese-quadruplets-numbers-shaved-heads-teacher-tell-apart.html)]([https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199605/Hairs-looking-kids-Chinese-quadruplets-numbers-shaved-heads-teacher-tell-apart.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199605/Hairs-looking-kids-Chinese-quadruplets-numbers-shaved-heads-teacher-tell-apart.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cwturner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Cwturner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cwturner)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/22 "2023-03-14T17:29:36Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I wonder how a tattoo place or a bank would handle the issue. Banks do tattoos? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/23 "2023-03-14T17:41:33Z")
> [@Cwturner](#): > > Banks do tattoos? It would make it easier to get or deposit money. Just flash your ink and take some out. I more meant that you’d only have the person’s word that the twin you’re talking to or working on is the right one. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/24 "2023-03-14T17:54:32Z")
There were identical twins in my grade school. I messed with their heads by asking if they ever had trouble telling each other apart. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/25 "2023-03-14T17:55:38Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > It would make it easier to get or deposit money. Just flash your ink and take some out. Must be 3 matching digits. Cannot be less than 600 or more than 700. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/26 "2023-03-14T17:58:48Z")
What about a bar code? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/27 "2023-03-14T18:13:06Z")
Beware the Mark of the QR. For it signals the End of Times. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/28 "2023-03-14T18:15:33Z")
Might be an urban legend, but I heard that the parents of two identical twin boys circumsized only one of the boys. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/29 "2023-03-14T18:15:59Z")
My DIL used toenail polish for awhile. Then she figured out one twin is lefty. But she has no trouble telling the difference now, they’re nearly a year old. Their personalities are quite different. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/30 "2023-03-14T18:21:30Z")
How old were they when the difference was apparent? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/31 "2023-03-14T18:49:27Z")
Within 3 mos. She says. It took us longer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/32 "2023-03-14T19:06:39Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > So what is the usual way for parents of twins to identify them? I would feel the easiest solution would be some form of color coding. One baby always gets dressed in blue and the other always gets dressed in green. Take care never to leave them naked in the same room. Worst case scenario is you do get them mixed up and can’t tell which one is which. If so, just give each of them one of the two names you were calling them before and don’t worry if those names are still attached to the original babies. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/33 "2023-03-14T19:13:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Worst case scenario is you do get them mixed up If so, just give each of them one of the two names… and don’t worry if those names are still attached to the original babies. yeah, that’s sort of logical…but damn, I wouldn’t want to be the poor mother who has to live for the rest of her life hiding a secret like that!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/34 "2023-03-14T19:38:34Z")
Speaking of TV twins, isn’t there an episode of some show where grandma babysits identical twins and when asked of she had any trouble telling the babies apart tells the parents it was no problem because A had a scratch on his nose and B didn’t? I recall the joke being that mom tells dad that A didn’t have a scratch when they left… ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/35 "2023-03-14T20:14:43Z")
I had a friend who had twins who were fraternal and _very_ different. In fact, most people thought one boy was a year or more older than the other because he was just so much bigger. My paternal grandmother was an identical twin, and I have a photograph of them c. 1900 when they’re about 8 or 9. I’d never be able to tell them apart by looks. And, I’ve told this story before, but I never had trouble telling my gmother from my great aunt because my gmother had a stroke when I was five which really aged her and changed her appearance quite a bit. When I went to my great aunt’s open casket funeral, I was shocked because I hadn’t seen her in a number of years and now she looked exactly as my gmother had looked just before she died. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/36 "2023-03-14T23:02:01Z")
I would tattoo a 666 on one of their scalps. That way you’ll always know which one is the _evil twin_. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/37 "2023-03-14T23:06:16Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I had a friend who had twins who were fraternal and _very_ different. In fact, most people thought one boy was a year or more older than the other because he was just so much bigger. Fraternal twins don’t resemble each other more than do any other siblings. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/38 "2023-03-14T23:10:00Z")
Yes, I know, but these two boys didn’t even look like siblings! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/39 "2023-03-14T23:13:04Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Yes, I know, but these two boys didn’t even look like siblings!- I went to school with 2 identical twin boys who then got a little brother 3 years after they were born, and he looked enough like them to have been their delayed triplet. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/40 "2023-03-14T23:17:46Z")
Whenever I’ve had twins in a class or camp, I’ve always been able to find some detail to tell them apart… But I once had a pair of sisters nearly two years apart who I couldn’t distinguish even when they were standing right next to each other (IIRC, they were about 11 and 13). I also currently have a pair of sisters (I think twins, but I haven’t double-checked) in two of my classes, that I knew were sisters, but I never realized just how similar they looked until one day when both happened to come in to my office hours at the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141.md?page=3)