# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/41 "2023-03-14T23:22:27Z")
My kids were a year apart and looked so much alike that people often asked if they were identical twins - except one was obviously a girl and the other a boy. ---
**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, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/42 "2023-03-14T23:22:53Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > 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. I worked in the local library in high school/university, and there was a family with a bunch of kids (7 or so) with only one girl, and the rest boys who came in at least once a week. They all looked like stairsteps of the same kid. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/43 "2023-03-15T00:07:17Z")
[Mehndi.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehndi) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/44 "2023-03-15T00:15:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > …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. Yes, this gets to the heart of the matter. If you switch the labels around, why does it matter? The babies themselves haven’t changed. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/45 "2023-03-15T00:32:02Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Give 'em a tattoo when they’re old enough. The [Dahm triplets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole,_Erica_and_Jaclyn_Dahm) say that the doctor who delivered them tattooed tiny dots on two of them (one had one dot, the other two dots, and third no dots). There maybe photographic evidence available for this if the dots were still visible on them as adults. Seems like a reasonable thing to do though no idea if this was a violation of law in the state where they were born at the time. ---
**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 15, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/46 "2023-03-15T01:08:58Z")
I once worked with two brothers who were identical twins. They started a rumor that they were actually triplets and convinced some people that they just hadn’t seen all three of them together at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/47 "2023-03-15T01:23:44Z")
That’s hilarious! Identical twins get up to the best shenanigans. ---
**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 15, 2023, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/48 "2023-03-15T01:39:02Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > They all looked like stairsteps of the same kid. Stairsteps? ---
**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 15, 2023, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/49 "2023-03-15T01:39:51Z")
You know, the same kid at different ages. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/50 "2023-03-15T01:45:28Z")
There’s a fictional trope where the birth order of twins matters for some reason. Does this actually matter for any reason in real life? I guess another legal question arises. If a rich uncle leaves his fortune to the identical twin he knows as Eve, but it later transpires that they were switched and the birth certificate name “Eve” applies to the other twin… that couldn’t possibly matter, right? The money surely goes to the intended person, however that person was identified at the time. ---
**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 15, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/51 "2023-03-15T01:48:48Z")
There was a related trope in an Agatha Christie story. A will stated that the fortune went to a particular character and “his wife.” His second wife assumed it meant her, but others said it referred to his first wife from whom he was divorced. I wondered if the second wife could contest that at all. It was not discussed in any detail, so it was hard to see what was precisely legal. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/52 "2023-03-15T01:52:00Z")
I knew a girl in college who had a twin sister. They both went to school there, and while I had met her sister many times, the one I knew well I’d see several times a week. They were “Identical Twins” but were not identical. The one I knew was a little shorter and her sister was much more reserved. Looking at them you might assume they were sisters, but not twins. Turns out, the one I knew was born with a hole in her heart and underwent cardiac surgery when she was 9 or 10, which obviously affected her growth. Her sister did not need such surgery. Anyway, one day (it happened to be her birthday) she “out of the blue” asked me if I knew what day it was. Of course, I knew her well enough to know her birthday, but I responded with, “Yeah, if I remember correctly, it’s your sister’s birthday!” She laughed, kissed me, and told me I wasn’t the first one to tell her that. She also let me know that I shouldn’t try that gag with her sister, that her sister wouldn’t think it was funny. If I knew then what I know now, I probably would have married her. But, we were both teenagers at the time and I was stupid and had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/53 "2023-03-15T03:46:36Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > There’s a fictional trope where the birth order of twins matters for some reason. Does this actually matter for any reason in real life? Maybe if the terms of a will leaves everything to the eldest child? Even if it has no legal consequence it seems to matter to twins. Just ask any twin and you’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/54 "2023-03-15T03:51:18Z")
Laws of primogeniture could make this an issue ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/55 "2023-03-15T04:04:24Z")
> **[Sklar-Crossed Brothers - This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/691/gardens-of-branching-paths/act-three-27)** > > Being an identical twin is kind of like having a parallel world right on top of ours, one in which there is another version of you running around. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/56 "2023-03-15T04:05:20Z")
Haven’t read the whole thread, but they probably could have had a dermatologist do it for a lot less money, and probably not the first time they’d been asked, if not outright done it. I’ve definitely heard of Sharpie marks, painted nails, etc. used as an easier way to tell twins apart. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/57 "2023-03-15T04:08:05Z")
I once saw a TV show about a family that had identical quadruplet boys who were then about 5 years old, and until just a few months before the show began filming, each of them knew that he had 3 brothers who looked exactly alike. ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/58 "2023-03-15T12:59:52Z")
In my daughter’s grade was a set of identical twins she was friends with, Hallie and Leia. Hallie was named that because she had more hair so the h name identified her as an infant until other differences became apparent as they got older. I coached them both for several years in parks and rec softball and told them apart because Leia was a lefty, L name for the lefty, but I doubt the parents knew that when she was born. ---
**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 15, 2023, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/59 "2023-03-15T13:05:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I once saw a TV show about a family that had identical quadruplet boys who were then about 5 years old, and until just a few months before the show began filming, each of them knew that he had 3 brothers who looked exactly alike. I don’t think that sentence came out quite as you intended. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141/60 "2023-03-15T14:34:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Birthmarks are (obviously 🙂 ) from birth. So they’d be individual. But they’re also rather rare on humans in general so many twin pairs won’t have any. Wait … is this true? Everybody whose body I’m familiar with has some sort of birthmark. I don’t mean like large dime-sized marks, but like a little freckle at least. I have several about a cm wide on various spots of my body, plus probably a dozen or two more much smaller (I see three on my right hand, and another three on my left. Bigger one cm ones on each of my forearms. I assume I have some on my legs and thighs – I know my wife has a couple on her torso and legs – oh, and at the back of her neck. My brother has one I remember on the bottom of his foot, but I’m sure has more. My mom has a few on her upper torso. My father has a number on his head. Oh, I also have one one cm one on my cheek.) None of use have freckles in general. It’s hard for me to think of someone that doesn’t have several pigmentation marks on their body. Then again, this is pretty much all within my family genetically (excepting my wife.) But when I think of my exes, I also remember birth marks. Am I just mistaken, or are these not called “birthmarks?” I’ve had mine since I can remember. Even if they are technically something else, they can be used to distinguish people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperate-mom-of-twins-calls-police-when-she-cant-tell-them-apart/981141.md?page=4)