We’ve all heard that saying and I know most of us have probably seen someone who either looked exactly like us or someone we know, what I’m wondering is has anyone done a DNA test to compare people who look nearly identical, but are of no known relation to see if there’s any kind of match? I’m curious about this because of a program I saw a number of years ago on two judges in LA. Both of them were identical (even had similar names, attitudes etc., etc.) but were NOT twins who had been seperated at birth, even though they certainly seemed to be. Anyone have any info on this?
They don’t mean that everyone has a LITTERAL twin, but only that considering the huge number of people out there, that there is probably someone out there that looks very similar, if not the same as you do. This person would have different genes, of course, but the combination could add up to someone that could be your “twin.”
People really don’t vary all that much in their looks, and no one is truly “unique” in the looks department. Chances are, there is someone living, or someone in the past that looked exactly like you without having to be related to you at all. Their DNA just rolled a number, and it came up with the right combination. There are only so many, and the same number is bound to come up at some time.
As far as I know, there have never been any actual studies of this. I’m sure that people in the private sector have met their “double” and had the person tested to see if they might be related, but never has it been done on a wide scale.
pointless antedote
I used to date this guy who looked exactly like Sylvia Plath.
I don’t know if everyone has a twin, but apparently have more than my quota. People – total strangers --have come up to me in restaurants and airports and said “I know someone who looks EXACTLY like you! I thought you were him!” I thought all these people were a little beyond the edge, until someone clipped out one of those “Dewar’s profiles” ads from the back of a magazine and stuck it on my door. The Profile was of Paul Szep, an editorial cartoonist for the Boston Globe (and currently the perpetrator of one of the Globe’s least-funny cartoons on the regular comics page). Even I had to admit that the picture looked like me, except that Szep is a little more Leno-ish about the chin. (This was in my prebearded days, too.) People started asking me how I got my picture into the ad. So apparently there’s an army of people out there who look like me. My only consolation is that Paul Szep must keep getting stopped by strangers and told that he looks like someone they know. (I wonder if any of my friends have ever done this to him.)
I think those who believe it are speaking literally.
They do believe in identical, down to the DNA, twins.
It’s sort of like a belief in there being two identical snowflakes. Only about a billion to the billionth power less likely.
But odd beliefs aren’t based on reality. That’s why people once thought pyramids would sharpen razor blades and keep apples from rotting.
Same thing happens to me. A LOT.
I’ve actually met two of my dopplegangers. When I was 8 or 9, I was at the roller rink, and a kid about 13 pushed my “cause [ I ] pushed [his] brother down.” As we were arguing about it, who should skate by but someone who looked exactly like me, even down to the shirt he was wearing.
Years later, I was sitting on a bench on the street when the friend I was with pointed out a guy who looked just like me across the street at a cafe. I ended up talking to him days later; even his friends thought we looked alike, sounded alike, and walked alike.
Then about six months ago, I was in the grocery store waiting in line. A checkout lady waved me over, so I went to her line, thinking it must’ve been shorter or something. As I get into her line, she calls out “Why aren’t you with your father?” As a confused look spread across my face, she leaned towards me, squinted and then her jaw dropped. Apparently, I’m a dead ringer for her son. Now, I can understand people mistaking me for a friend, but for a SON? Hmm. Go fig.
I also used to get this a lot. MY ‘twin’ worked at the local radio shack. People would always come up to me asking ‘rat shack’ questions. It got so bad that I knew what they were going to say.
“hey aren’t you that guy…”
“NO”
I always joke that my nickname should be “Generic White Guy.” Literally, at least once every couple weeks people I don’t even know ask me if I’m related to someone they know, or they tell me how much I look just like someone they know or are related to. All the time.
I figure it will be great for face recognition if I ever run for office or something like that. Or hell if one of my “clones” turns up in some embarrassing scandal.
I have a non-twin twin! O.K., many of my family live in Germany. So this is my father’s mother’s side of the family. Apparently I have a cousin (second cousin or something) who is my exact double. I mean positively identical. It freaked out my sister when she went over there this past summer.
punk snot dead,
broccoli!
There are a handful of guys in this area who are exact ringers for me. I usually shrug and quote Tom McCahill: “Grandpa really got around when he had that motor scooter.”
I’ve always wondered why the Germans have a word for this: Doppleganger. Is it such a common phenomenon over there that they had to name it?
I don’t know whether there’s anyone in the world who looks like me, but after I went to Helsinki last July, my best friend and I were reviewing my holiday videos, and in one shot taken through the window of a bus, there was a guy standing on the street corner who could have been his double.
Gotta love those miniDV camcorders. 
I had a twin in Red Deer. Apparently she went to the bars a lot right about the time that I was staying at home with my baby. My friends used to cross the room to ask “me” why I was out. I only saw her once, and at the moment, I honestly thought I was looking into a mirror, until she turned to leave. It was pretty freaky. I like to think that if I’d been able to see her close-up, I would have seen differences.
I also saw a picture of a second cousin that I’ve never met, and other than being heavier than I am, it could have been a picture of me. I still haven’t met her.
I guess it is common enough to have a specific word for it.
If everyone has a twin, then they have a triplet too.
I like playing Concentration with people I see. I match up people after several years usually.
As I understand it, seeing your Doppleganger is more of an omen than simply seeing someone that looks like you. I’ve read a couple of books where Dopplegangers were mentioned, and those books defined it as sort of seeing your own ghost. If you see your Doppleganger, watch out . . . you’re either going to die, or you’re in immenant danger of death. Dopplegangers were generally considered “warnings.”
They all look the same to me. 
Last week at a party I met this guy who was the total twin of my (far away) boyfriend. I took a big hit from the bong and started to talk to somebody in the oposite direction to save the evening… :rolleyes:
Today in the train I met the twin of a school friend… same hair color, same length, same eyes, same mouth, same nose… same shape… but a totally diffrent attidude
Anybody met his/her own not related twin?
dodgy
While I’ve found all of this entertaining, its not quite what I had mind for an answer. (I have, BTW at least 2 non-related twins. Met one [he’s now married to a girl I’m THANKFULLY no longer dating] and the other, is Iggy Pop.) I realize that there are genetic similarities between every human being (duh, we are all the same species), but what I want to know, if anyone can tell me: Has anyone, anywhere done either a test or a statistic analysis of this that says either: A.) If you look a hell of a lot like someone but are not related to them, your DNA has no greater similarities to one another than people who DON’T look anything a like. or B.) If you do look alike, then your DNA show a 1 percent (or some similar number) greater similarity than would be expected of people who are of no known relation. And before I forget, the reason I haven’t asked either of my “twins” to submit to DNA testing is that I’ve never met, and probably never will meet Iggy Pop and in the case of the dude who’s married to the gal I VERY BRIEFLY dated was, I fled as soon as I saw them. I quite honestly couldn’t believe that I had made that strong of an impression on her as she didn’t make much of one on me (My friends and I nicknamed her “Beaker” as she looked like the Muppet of the same name. It gets worse, her sister, whom my best friend was dating, looked like the banjo player from the movie “Deliverance.”), not to mention, they’d (my ex and dude) had had a kid together (so, I was like, “SH*T! That could have been me!”) To make matters even more bizarre, I had changed my style of dress since I’d last seen her (several years before this) and dude and I were wearing almost the exact same clothes! As everyone knows, twins who are seperated at birth tend to dress alike, marry similar spouses (sometimes ones even having the same name) and hold identical jobs. Its those things that make me wonder if there isn’t a greater DNA matchup between people who look alike.
Huh. It only took 21 YEARS to get an answer. Extreme Lookalikes May Share Much Deeper Ties Than We Ever Realized : ScienceAlert
So, yeah, it turns out that people who DO look alike have a number of genetic similarities.
“Originally posted by”…that’s something I haven’t seen in a while.