# You meet your counterpart from Earth-Prime. What happens? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339 "2008-10-10T16:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/1 "2008-10-10T16:15:07Z")
Let’s say that, through whatever unlikely contrivances you wish to postulate, you find yourself face-to-face with your counterpart from another reality. The only difference between Earth-Prime and this world is that, on Earth-Prime, the Straight Dope is written by a real person named Cecil Adams, whose pen name is Ed Zotti. Thus your counterpart is identical to you in almost every way. No one else is aware of your doppleganger’s presence. Do you and your counterpart a) beome best buddies and use your shared talents to make your life better in a benevolent, non-evil-fashion; b) become best buddies and immediately start brain-storming ways to use the situation for evil; c) immediately engage in a battle to the death; d) form a superficial alliance but immediately begin plotting one another’s downfall; or e) something else? ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/2 "2008-10-10T16:18:49Z")
I imagine we would pour some beers and head to the garden to see what’s blooming. I would inquire as to whether books and records I have lost are available for loan and certailny grow weary of my cynical know-it-all laughing past the graveyard self within a matter of hours. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/3 "2008-10-10T16:22:15Z")
Is his woman hot? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/4 "2008-10-10T16:24:03Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Is his woman hot? Is YOUR woman hot? I believe I wrote in the OP that the one difference between the worlds is the Zotti-Adams thign. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/5 "2008-10-10T17:14:51Z")
We’d drive each other nuts, especially if we were forced to live together or took classes together. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/6 "2008-10-10T17:16:15Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Is YOUR woman hot? I believe I wrote in the OP that the one difference between the worlds is the Zotti-Adams thign. And spell checkers, apparently.🙂 Gettin’ to where a guy can’t make a smart ass reply on this board anymore… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/7 "2008-10-10T17:17:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > And spell checkers, apparently.🙂 > Gettin’ to where a guy can’t make a smart ass reply on this board anymore… Spellcheckers, like facts, are for women, Democrats, & Frenchmen. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/8 "2008-10-10T17:28:52Z")
I’d chloroform him, then put him in stasis in case I need a new liver or something someday, if he doesn’t get to me first. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/9 "2008-10-10T17:46:13Z")
Play some video games. Try to score with hot twins. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/10 "2008-10-10T17:49:19Z")
We’d go out, get drunk, plan out an entirely new political model that would solve all our problems, and then hit on whatever attractive guys and/or girls that were in the vicinity. Once the hangover wore off the next day, we’d play video games and drink coffee. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/11 "2008-10-10T18:02:06Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > I’d chloroform him, then put him in stasis in case I need a new liver or something someday I must agree with my fellow Arkansan. I could take up smoking again! ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/12 "2008-10-10T18:12:16Z")
Man, that’d be awesome. I’m totally going with A), unless playing awesome videogames with niche audiences is evil, then it’s B). Technically C) will be involved in a virtual sense. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/13 "2008-10-10T18:16:33Z")
Is it masturbation if we…never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/14 "2008-10-10T18:22:22Z")
I imagine we’d start punching on the inter-dimensional barrier to see what/who reboots. I think that would be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/15 "2008-10-10T18:25:41Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > I imagine we’d start punching on the inter-dimensional barrier to see what/who reboots. I think that would be fun. People always think that. Then we get a universe where Diana Prince & Donna Troy are lesbian lovers torn apart by their shared lust Cassie Sandsmark, and nobody wants that. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/16 "2008-10-10T18:41:27Z")
We’d probably say “Hi”, shake hands, mumble some really inane chit-chat, and then slowly wander apart, never to see each other again. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/17 "2008-10-10T19:56:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is it masturbation if we…never mind. You’ll want to read Audrey Niffenegger’s clever, mind-bending novel _The Time Traveler’s Wife_, and soon, my friend. Probably (A), since we could then each work half as much. But I suspect we’d soon grow bored with each other’s company - we’d agree on everything, obviously, and already know all of each other’s secrets. I guess we could just walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the reactions we got. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/18 "2008-10-10T20:00:14Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Is YOUR woman hot? I believe I wrote in the OP that the one difference between the worlds is the Zotti-Adams thign. Wait; in the other world, _what’s_ different about Ed Zotti’s thighs? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/19 "2008-10-10T21:44:09Z")
My counterpart from your earth-prime would not be almost identical to me. He would have the real name of Doc Cathode and his online persona would be me. He’d be a Mad Scientific genius who could help me with many projects. He would probably want to study my mind and brain. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339/20 "2008-10-10T21:52:35Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Wait; in the other world, _what’s_ different about Ed Zotti’s thighs? Preview is for women, Democrats, & Frenchmen. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-meet-your-counterpart-from-earth-prime-what-happens/467339.md?page=2)