# Parents of twins: are they really capable of fooling you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 17, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473 "2025-05-17T13:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/21 "2025-05-20T21:28:56Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I wasn’t a parent of twins, but I knew a few sets of twins growing up, and it didn’t take me long to be able to tell them apart, not by their clothes, or the way they wore their hair, just by looking at their faces. Same with me. A little trouble when I first met them, but soon enough I could tell them apart. I worked with a set of identical twin girls as a teenager. Not only could I tell them apart, but I found one of them prettier than the other. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/22 "2025-05-21T14:16:00Z")
My partner and his brother are identical twins. They won Most Identical at Twins Day when they were 7. I’ve only heard one story of them pulling a successful switcheroo when they were kids. And I don’t think it was on their mom, it was their pediatrician. In every picture I’ve seen, except one, I’m able to tell them apart. My partner has a rounder face. He’s the “softer” twin. You definitely cannot tell them apart if you just happen to pass one on the street and don’t see them together. Maybe with some studying you can tell the difference. They dress alike still, at age 47. One wears jeans and the other only Dickies. That’s about it. And they have the same voice. Oh lord. It’s creepy! ---
**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:** [May 21, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/23 "2025-05-21T15:46:37Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > How about not being sure which twin is which? When I was in HS there were identical twin boys that were in grade school, and we rode the bus. A couple times I tried to mess with their heads and ask if they could tell each other apart, and if they ever got confused which was which. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/24 "2025-05-21T15:48:23Z")
Could be the plot of a Disney movie… ---
**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:** [May 21, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/25 "2025-05-21T15:52:21Z")
More like Cronenberg. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/26 "2025-05-21T16:07:18Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > And they have the same voice. Oh lord. It’s creepy! Sounds like the premise for a really bad / disturbing porno. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/27 "2025-05-21T16:13:59Z")
During my teaching c ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/28 "2025-05-21T19:59:44Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > When I was in HS there were identical twin boys that were in grade school, and we rode the bus. A couple times I tried to mess with their heads and ask if they could tell each other apart, and if they ever got confused which was which. RICKY GERVAIS: If you met yourself- KARL PILKINGTON: How would I know which one was me? RICKY GERVAIS: …You’d know which one was you because _you’re you_. KARL PILKINGTON: That’s what the other me would think! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/29 "2025-05-21T23:39:11Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Sounds like the premise for a really bad / disturbing porno. I dunno, I could see that going either way. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/30 "2025-05-22T17:05:20Z")
Or both. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mattgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mattgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattgg)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/31 "2025-05-24T10:50:23Z")
I have identical twin brothers and I’ve always been able to tell them apart. I know who is who even in the earliest photos of them. I thought that people who claimed that they couldn’t tell them apart were being lazy or liked the idea of being confused by the novelty. Then one day when they were about 50 years old I looked at one of them and saw that he really does look exactly like the other. My penance is having identical nephews who I can’t easily tell apart. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/32 "2025-05-24T16:18:26Z")
Of course, I’ve also had cases of non-twin siblings who look so similar that it’s difficult to tell them apart. Two of my cousins look almost identical, aside from one of them being taller. And he’s the younger one, so there must have been some time during their adolescence when they were the same height. In another case, when I was a camp counselor, I had two kids who I couldn’t tell apart at all, even though one was 6th grade and the other 8th. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/33 "2025-05-24T16:43:53Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > And they have the same voice. Oh lord. It’s creepy! My younger sister and I sound almost identical on the phone. She used to pretend she was me when she didn’t want to talk to someone. There were twin boys in my neighborhood when I was a kid. We always called them “Twin” when we saw one … like it was their name. When they were together it was “the Twins.” Then, in his early 20s one sawed half his thumb off in a carpentry accident, and it was very easy to tell them apart! My grandmother and great-aunt were identical twins. My grandmother had a stroke when I was four or five, so they always looked differently to me. No problem telling them apart. My grandmother died before her sister, so it was years later at my great-aunt’s funeral that I saw her very aged in her open casket. I freaked for a few seconds, because she really REALLY looked exactly like my grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473/34 "2025-05-24T17:43:44Z")
My dad’s dad died when my dad was 13. Grandpa was estranged from his family so dad never met his uncle. They apparently looked very much alike so much that my dad was momentarily stunned when his uncle came to the funeral to pay his respects. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-twins-are-they-really-capable-of-fooling-you/1018473.md?page=1)