Just soliciting stories here, understand. Some of you may recall the various studies of twins separated at birth, and how they often end up paralleling each other’s lives in very spooky ways. But in other cases (the traditional grew-up-together scenario) they might turn out to be utterly different from each other.
What has been your experience? Those who are actual identical twins are especially welcome.
I lived with a pair of identical twins in college. One very much straight and one very much gay.
Actress Alexandra Paul and author Caroline Paul are identical twins. Alexandra is straight and Caroline is gay.
The pair I knew were able to fool our teachers and just about anyone else until shortly after college; can’t say since then.
I had twins in my classroom for several years (special ed). They were so identical I called them both “Mr. Doe.” I would’ve felt bad except I’m not sure even their parents could tell them apart.
I think when they got into their twenties, one had a beard and one didn’t. Last I heard, they were still living with their parents and working in the same factory.
I went to school in West Texas with a pair of identical twins, but you really could tell them apart. (They were bullies, but I’ve heard one found Jesus and is now a minister. Still can’t wrap my head around that. You’d have to have known the guy.)
From time to time, you get the odd twin combination in the bars in Bangkok. Right now, Top Secret Bar off of Sukhumvit Soi 20 has a pair of identical-twin bargirls. I can’t tell one from the other individually, but I can see a slight difference when they’re standing together. And yes, they do, um, work together, if you know what I mean.
I roomed with identical twins at OTS. No one else could tell them apart. When our OT lead told me that I told him one girl had a mole on her left cheek the size of my little fingernail and the other one didn’t have a mole. The thing was huge! Apparently, most people saw two girls that looked enough alike that their brains edited out the differences like the mole. I think this is called change blindness.
One of my great-great grandmothers had an identical twin. They were, according to all reports, radically different. My grandma Lulu was a “fixy lady” with lots of romantic Victorian ideas. She looked exactly like Helena Bonham Carter in a Merchant & Ivory film.
Her twin, whose name I forget, was more like Ariadne Oliver from an Agatha Christie novel. Baggy clothes, straggly hair, enjoyed belching contests.
My best friend in high school had a mother who was an identical twin. When her mother died, her father remarried…her aunt (who was a widow at that time). This happened not even a year later although her mother had been sick for a long time and her aunt had been there helping.
It was strange. They looked very alike except that the aunt didn’t color her hair (or used a different color). Kind of weird for my friend, actually.
I’ve known 2 sets of gay/straight identical twins, both male. Of the set I went to school with once was circumcised and the other intact.
There’s a pair of identical twins that shops at my store. They both shopped there for years and we had no idea there were two of them until they were both in at once and we’re a mom and pop type store where we know most of our customers.
One uses plastic the other brings in his own bags.
In fact, when we found out one of my cashiers even said ‘huh, I should have noticed that half the time he has a reusable bag and half the time he doesn’t…and they have different wives’.
I dated an identical twin for 5 years. While they were very similar in their values, likes and dislikes there was a huge dichotomy in their gregariousness and personalities. One was far more dominant and opinionated, etc.
I will say the bond twins have with each other is unique and may possibly present a problem, a challenge to someone that develops a serious relationship with them. I think the twin that I dated and I could have gotton married if that had not been in play. That won’t always be the case of course and there were additional concerns (loss of a father) when they were young but it was undeniable for us and I don’t think either one of them, despite being stunningly beautiful, ever married.
I worked at a place with identical twins back when I was in college. After working
with them a while I was able to tell them apart by looking at the small moles
each had on their faces. Their parents has given them completely different names
which helped to reduce the confusion. I met another pair of identical twins in
one of my collage classes named Melissa and Melanie. Not only was I never was
able to tell them apart I also would confuse the similar sounding names.
Years later I worked for someone who had identical twin brothers. It was one
of the strangest things I have seen in my life. Both were excellent carpenters
but one was an alcoholic and was dumb as a rock. The other one appeared to be
completely normal. If they were standing side by side you could see that
they were identical but you could also tell in an instant which one was the
heavy drinker.
I served with a pair of twins in the army (highly irregular, incidentally. Long story). Besides the fact that one of them had a small scar near is upper lip, they were absolutely identical - a fact exacerbated by their identical uniforms and buzz-cuts.
The funny thing is that after a month or two, not only could we all tell them apart at a glance, people often forgot they were related. I guess their personalities, speech patterns and facial expressions were so distinct we all just ignored their features.
I am an identical twin. So is my brother…
He got a PhD (something to do with artificial intelligence, lots of higher maths, binary thinking etc). I make theatre, I’m a performance poet, I write and create and perform. We can’t really sustain a conversation for long anymore, there is no common point of reference and to some degree our different modes of thinking irritate the other.
We look less alike than we used to - probably because he’s been financially comfortable enough to afford a lot of doughnuts ( 
) and I mostly haven’t. He lives in a different country, so we don’t get to play the twin thing so much anymore, but when I turned up for his second wedding several guests assumed I was him.
I spent a lot of time with a pair of twins in the SCA; one was carefree and creative, the other was much more serious and business-oriented. I had no trouble telling them apart.
There are four or five pairs of twins (teenagers or younger) who train at my dojo. I can’t tell them apart. Well, one pair from another, sure, but within each pair? Nope. It doesn’t help that they’re all the same belt level… it’d be easier if one was a green belt and the other purple…
When I was in high school, there were a pair of twin girls I used to hang out with. They were quite “stimulating” to say the least. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.
My mom has an identical twin. They’re both nurses, though in different specialties. Physically they’re pretty different; you might not even guess that they’re twins by looking at them, though you could probably tell that they’re related. I’ve seen pictures of them when they were younger, though, and they really did look identical then.
Here’s a funny story about them: their birthday was apparently close to the cutoff point for admission into kindergarten, so the school gave them a little “maturity test” to see whether they were ready to start school or whether they should wait until next year. My mom passed the test and my aunt didn’t, so my mom ended up a grade ahead of her twin. She’s said that she didn’t like it very much because she was always getting Bs while her twin, a grade behind her, would bring home As.
I lived with a pair of identical twins in college. One very much straight and one very much a stoner.
Kermit and Constantine, is that you?