Twins

Lady is a tramp

We have twins staying in our house at the moment (of the female teenage variety) and I'm a bit fascinated by them. They're not like a normal pair of siblings, they actually like each other and spend all their time together and get on well together. Why is it so unusual for regular siblings close in age to get on well, but common for twins?

They're not even identical but I haven't bothered asking which one is which because they're just always there together, and they have all the same interests and the same mannerisms etc. I do know their names, but they always seem to just be referred to as "the twins" by everyone, no one ever seems to call either one of them by name. They come as a package.

Got me to thinking that actually, it's similar with any sets of twins I've ever known growing up. They always seem to have the same group of friends and end up mostly living together, travelling together, etc. I guess there comes a point when all that ends and they settle down and get married etc, and their lives become separate, but I wonder is that special twin bond always there? Or does the connection wear off with time?

Are you a twin? (Or even a triplet or quad etc?) What's your experience with them? Any freaky supernatural psychic twin stories? Anyone else have the same mild fascination with all things twinny, or is it just me?

Persephone kindness

I always wanted a twin. No though I am not. And no i have never known any. I would love to hear stories though I keeping of the sweet valley twins

myshirt

If you review the literature you'll find that twins typically don't like each other in fact.

Persephone kindness

I always thought they would get on.

Persephone kindness

This is really cool

Shenshen

I'm married to a twin. He doesn't have a lot of contact with his brother these days, and has told me that he spent a good part of his youth actively trying to be a different as possible. They're identical twins, and he always resented being perceived as just one half of the whole by everyone else.

I only got to meet his brother after we'd been married for a few years, and I don't mind telling you that it was a somewhat surreal experience. Despite all my OH's efforts, he still has the same mannerisms as his brother, the same sense of humour, the same inflections when speaking. And while you wouldn't mistake one for the other any more (they're in their late 40s now, and I think the similarities in appearance tend to disappear as they get older), you can tell that they are way more than just siblings.

The most hilarious thing to my mind is that his brother married someone who is uncannily similar to me. But my OH cannot stand her for some reason...

micar

I'm a guy and have a twin sister.

We get on great but have completely different personalities.

In the company I work for, there are many people who have a twin, have twins siblings or have children who are twins. One if the guys is a triplet and also have twin siblings. The whole thing is mad.

OU812

I have twins, they're a whole lot of fun, but...

There's certain things that go on with twins that everyone else has to just "get on with".

Typical examples include playing individually & one saying something like "remember when" and the other laughing & agreeing, as if the end of the sentence was telepathic.

One of my twins told us her other mother died over a hundred years ago, she was bitten by a spider in the desert, she knows where she's buried but will never go there again.

The other is afraid of water because she "almost drowned once and was asleep (unconscious) for a very long time".

Another time one of them just came out & hugged me & said, "I love you, you're so much nicer than my other dad was" & then walked away & then the there one said that "the other dad wasn't *her* dad but she'd met him in "the other place" & didn't like him & that why they were twins this time"

Then we were having a different family conversation & their mom said something that had happened before they were born & one said to the other, "I was around then, but you weren't, I hadn't met you yet"

They're perfectly in tune with one another, very defensive of each other & like *mostly* the same stuff. They're identical, but We've no problem telling them apart. They're totally different in personality, appearance & humour as far as we're concerned, they also don't look identical to us.

They love each other unbelievably and are incredibly in tune with each other, one time I had one while mom had another & the one I had told me that she had to get sweets because her sister did & it wasn't fair. I checked & her mom had bought them right that minute.

Shenshen

micar wrote: »

I'm a guy and have a twin sister.

We get on great but have completely different personalities.

In the company I work for, there are many people who have a twin, have twins siblings or have children who are twins. One if the guys is a triplet and also have twin siblings. The whole thing is mad.

I don't know what the current received scientific opinion is, at one time they were denying that there is any hereditability to the likelihood of having twins. But there has been at least one pair of non-identical twins in my family for the last 4 generations at least, so I do think that there's something making some people more pre-disposed to it than others.

Canard

I have a twin sister (I'm a guy), we get on great People either see a striking similarity between us or they don't (I do think we look similar), and sometimes those who don't assume we're a couple :eek:

We both did French as part of our degrees and one of my favourite stories was that we had the same teacher, but were in different classes. I tended to speak a lot in mine and my sister didn't as much, and one day the teacher saw her name and picked it at random, and when my sister responded to say like "hey, thats me" my teacher said she could only see me and my mannerisms and was like :eek: :eek: :eek: and was mad that I hadn't told her I had a twin! Crazy how similar mannerisms can be without you even realizing :P

Persephone kindness

Canard wrote: »

I have a twin sister (I'm a guy), we get on great People either see a striking similarity between us or they don't (I do think we look similar), and sometimes those who don't assume we're a couple :eek:

We both did French as part of our degrees and one of my favourite stories was that we had the same teacher, but were in different classes. I tended to speak a lot in mine and my sister didn't as much, and one day the teacher saw her name and picked it at random, and when my sister responded to say like "hey, thats me" my teacher said she could only see me and my mannerisms and was like :eek: :eek: :eek: and was mad I hadn't told her I had a twin! Crazy how similar mannerisms can be without you even realizing :P

Ever have any psychic experiences ..like knowing what the other is thinking or something?

Canard

Persephone kindness wrote: »

Ever have any psychic experiences ..like knowing what the other is thinking or something?

Haha nothing as crazy as some tales you can read about, but we did use to refer to "twinning", when we would both have the exact same thought / reaction to something at the same time I think thats normal with twins though - if you've had so many similar experiences, it's normal to think of them in similar circumstances, but the psychic label is cool too :cool:

Persephone kindness

I shall call it 'twinning' from now on

micar

Something I just read in a different thread

stimpson wrote: »

If identical twin brothers marry identical twin sisters then the offspring of both couples are genetically siblings, although legally they are first cousins.

Surreptitious

My Dad and his sister are twins. They look nothing alike and they are not close. I thought they would have some kind of connection but no.

_Whimsical_

I know 2 sets of female identical twins and they really don't get on. One set do not speak to each other and haven't in years. The other set are constantly fighting and constantly upset by each other. I've known since the start of secondary school and their relationships have always been the same.

They were a disappointing eye opener as I'd always wanted a twin.

I know male identical twins too who were inseparable all their lives, the ultimate friendship package deal, until their mid-twenties when life and love took them in opposite directions. I'd say it must have cut deeply to have found one had another person in their lives suddenly that they were willing to move away for and be more important. There's always been a sense of it in the air since things changed though they're still close friends they're not now peas in a pod.

neonsofa

Not exactly related to the OP but it blew my mind that the olsen twins apparently aren't identical twins. They are fraternal twins, which basically means they are siblings who shared the same womb, rather than siblings that share the same DNA- from the fertilised egg splitting into two. It's the latter that makes twins identical because their DNA is identical. Fraternal twins that look the same are apparently just very similar looking siblings. Fascinating stuff.

There are a few sets of twins in the family.

Sirsok

My mate is a twin, yet he has never met him, as one twin was put up for adoption. He knows he lives in England thats about it. Always found that strange, knowing you have a twin libing out there and you've never met them

Fart

OU812 wrote: »

I have twins, they're a whole lot of fun, but...

There's certain things that go on with twins that everyone else has to just "get on with".

Typical examples include playing individually & one saying something like "remember when" and the other laughing & agreeing, as if the end of the sentence was telepathic.

One of my twins told us her other mother died over a hundred years ago, she was bitten by a spider in the desert, she knows where she's buried but will never go there again.

The other is afraid of water because she "almost drowned once and was asleep (unconscious) for a very long time".

Another time one of them just came out & hugged me & said, "I love you, you're so much nicer than my other dad was" & then walked away & then the there one said that "the other dad wasn't *her* dad but she'd met him in "the other place" & didn't like him & that why they were twins this time"

Then we were having a different family conversation & their mom said something that had happened before they were born & one said to the other, "I was around then, but you weren't, I hadn't met you yet"

They're perfectly in tune with one another, very defensive of each other & like *mostly* the same stuff. They're identical, but We've no problem telling them apart. They're totally different in personality, appearance & humour as far as we're concerned, they also don't look identical to us.

They love each other unbelievably and are incredibly in tune with each other, one time I had one while mom had another & the one I had told me that she had to get sweets because her sister did & it wasn't fair. I checked & her mom had bought them right that minute.

Dafuq did I just read?

Tigger

micar wrote: »

Something I just read in a different thread

Yeah it's twin cousins

Radiant Cool Crazy Nightmare

Sirsok wrote: »

My mate is a twin, yet he has never met him, as one twin was put up for adoption. He knows he lives in England thats about it. Always found that strange, knowing you have a twin libing out there and you've never met them

Thats really sad.

Teyla Emmagan

neonsofa wrote:

Not exactly related to the OP but it blew my mind that the olsen twins apparently aren't identical twins. They are fraternal twins, which basically means they are siblings who shared the same womb, rather than siblings that share the same DNA- from the fertilised egg splitting into two. It's the latter that makes twins identical because their DNA is identical. Fraternal twins that look the same are apparently just very similar looking siblings. Fascinating stuff.

No the Olsens apparently are 'semi fraternal' I think it's called. So the unfertilised egg split and was fertilised by two different sperm so they have shared genes on one side but not on the other. So they're somewhere between fraternal and identical. That's why they are more alike than fraternal twins but still not identical.

I read this a long time ago and am probably not relating the details on a scientifically correct manner.

faceman

Shenshen wrote: »

I'm married to a twin. He doesn't have a lot of contact with his brother these days, and has told me that he spent a good part of his youth actively trying to be a different as possible. They're identical twins, and he always resented being perceived as just one half of the whole by everyone else.

I only got to meet his brother after we'd been married for a few years, and I don't mind telling you that it was a somewhat surreal experience. Despite all my OH's efforts, he still has the same mannerisms as his brother, the same sense of humour, the same inflections when speaking. And while you wouldn't mistake one for the other any more (they're in their late 40s now, and I think the similarities in appearance tend to disappear as they get older), you can tell that they are way more than just siblings.

The most hilarious thing to my mind is that his brother married someone who is uncannily similar to me. But my OH cannot stand her for some reason...

I promise I'm not trolling with this. Did you find yourself attracted to your brother in law? In that kind of "wait what who?!" way?

wexdevil

Never have/had any issues with my (identical) twin.

Shenshen

faceman wrote: »

I promise I'm not trolling with this. Did you find yourself attracted to your brother in law? In that kind of "wait what who?!" way?

To be perfectly honest, yes. Not exactly the same way I'm attracted to my husband, but in a similar way.
And at the same time my brain went "You find one a bit of a handful, and now there's two of them?!" It was very confusing initially to say the least.

On the upside, I got on with him like a house on fire

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

corner of hells

FizzleSticks wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That means you're going to have octuplets, octomon.

corner of hells

My niece is a twin in her twenties now who lost her sister in childbirth. Until she was about five years old her parents regularly noticed her seemingly playing by herself but as if she was with someone, often smiling and giggling as if with a playmate.

Paddy Cow

I don't have any kids but if I had twins I would treat them as individuals, rather than a pair. It really bugs me when I twins who are dressed the same and have the same haircuts. Maybe they're the twins who don't get on as adults because they were forced to be the same? My sister is four and a have years younger than me and my mother used to make us wear the same dresses. It drove me mental.

neonsofa

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

No the Olsens apparently are 'semi fraternal' I think it's called. So the unfertilised egg split and was fertilised by two different sperm so they have shared genes on one side but not on the other. So they're somewhere between fraternal and identical. That's why they are more alike than fraternal twins but still not identical.

I read this a long time ago and am probably not relating the details on a scientifically correct manner.

Nah as far as i know they are fraternal. You're correct re the definition of semi-identical twins, but this is extremely rare.

corner of hells

Paddy Cow wrote: »

I don't have any kids but if I had twins I would treat them as individuals, rather than a pair. It really bugs me when I twins who are dressed the same and have the same haircuts. Maybe they're the twins who don't get on as adults because they were forced to be the same? My sister is four and a have years younger than me and my mother used to make us wear the same dresses. It drove me mental.

I'm assuming you're female with the dress wearing ****.

Corruptedmorals

My mother is an identical twin, they are fairly close. It skips a generation and as all of my sister's pregnancies have been single, makes me think I've a good chance of having them. My partner is a fraternal twin..they are not close but get on alright..but I heard that his side wouldn't have an influence, it's maternal only.

Village Crazy Lady

I have a twin brother and I have 6yr old twin daughters. I get on really well with him, better than my other siblings, and my twin daughters are inseparable, they do everything together and get upset if separated, like a doctors appointment etc. They finish each others sentences, help each other all the time and I could count on one finger how many times they have fought with each other, I was the same with my twin until we hit puberty, then all hell broke loose. Then once all that settled down, we are the best of friends. My twins couldn't be more different in personality. One is gentle and soft and the other is feisty and stubborn. But they do get on great. Cant say that about my other two who are older than the twins. They keep wishing they had a twin too haha. 5 generations of the last on my mothers side have had twins, so this whole skipping a generation is rubbish.

rossie1977

My dad had a twin sister and they couldn't have been more different personality wise.

Sam Kade

This bonding between twins is a load of nonsense thought up by people that are not twins.

Hannibal_Smith

I'm a twin. We get on really well. The family always get annoyed because we always stick up for each other. We know each others friends etc and grew up around the same people. It's nice

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

My brother house shared with twins one time. I stayed with him for two days and didn't notice it was two different people, mind you, I couldn't really remember which was which out of any of the lads there, young lads all look the same really. At one point the one with the beard went up the stairs and the one without the beard came down and I did kind of absentmindedly think "jeez, he's a quick shaver". Three years later and I know which one is which about 70% of the time but I swear they're fcuking with me sometimes.

My cousins are quads but hate being referred to like that, some of them don't even like people knowing because they're just sick of talking about it. They're all very very different people. When they were teenagers they deliberately went to different schools.

LadyMacBeth_

I have a friend who is a twin, they aren't identical but they do look quite alike, it took me a while to tell them apart. They are different personality and style wise but share some of the same beliefs, which their family doesn't share so it seems to be something they both reinforce with each other. I have noticed that they seem to have difficulty maintaining friendships and I think it is partially due to feeling like they don't need anyone else. When my friend was in a relationship in the past she told her boyfriend that he would never be the most important person in her life, that would always be her twin and both of the girls struggled with jealousy when the other was in a relationship. My friend once told me when she was single that she didn't feel the need for a relationship with a man because she has such a strong bond with her twin, I thought that was a bit odd. Family relationships and sexual relationships are very different.

Paddy Cow

corner of hells wrote: »

I'm assuming you're female with the dress wearing ****.

Of course. If I was male, I'd be Paddy Bull :pac:

optogirl

My mother is a twin (fraternal) - they were in the same class all the way through & even did the same college course. They now live in different countries but are very close. Not sure if they are any closer to each other than their other siblings but they do often wear the same thing, buy the same ornaments etc & have even claimed to know when the other was in labour due to abdominal pains.

optogirl

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

My mother is an identical twin, they are fairly close. It skips a generation and as all of my sister's pregnancies have been single, makes me think I've a good chance of having them. My partner is a fraternal twin..they are not close but get on alright..but I heard that his side wouldn't have an influence, it's maternal only.

Identical twins is not genetic. Also, twins do not skip a generation - that's a myth but a widely known & oft believed one.

MarkR

I have an identical twin. Ugly bastard.

Seriously though, I do recall one time where I knew something was wrong. We lived in the states at the time, and I went round the block looking for him. Found his bike under the front of a car, and he was being brought away in an ambulance. He now has a nice scar on the back of his head to differentiate.

We sound the same I'm told, and have similar interests. Have often bought the same stuff separately. I've two kids, he has three. No twins yet. :-)

DunnoKidz

Never spent much time with my twin. We are diametrically opposite. Only similarity: sending our mother the same card once, she took it as a sign. I took it as a coincidence and small selection of Mothers Day cards.

Mr. CooL ICE

Do you reckon identical twins ever wake up one morning and forget which one they are?

Jesus Wept

Persephone kindness wrote: »

I always wanted a twin. No though I am not. And no i have never known any. I would love to hear stories though I keeping of the sweet valley twins

Used to think of them quite a bit myself too.

YFlyer

There are two girls that are identical twins that drank in the same bars as me in Limerick city from about 10 to 15 years ago. I'm not sure did I get off with the same girl twice or not.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I'm a twin, non identical as she's female and I'm male. We got on well together and always have although we would never have been described as close. We don't have any similar traits or personality and we have different likes and dislikes.

Mountainsandh

Surreptitious wrote: »

My Dad and his sister are twins. They look nothing alike and they are not close. I thought they would have some kind of connection but no.

Same as above, except my Dad died 20 years ago. They got on well but weren't super close in my lifetime anyway, maybe when they were kids.

My older sister and I finished each other's sentences, had a secret language as kids, same mannerism, and rarely ever argued. I think it's just siblings' luck of the draw.

pickarooney

Sirsok wrote: »

My mate is a twin, yet he has never met him, as one twin was put up for adoption. He knows he lives in England thats about it. Always found that strange, knowing you have a twin libing out there and you've never met them

Jesus, putting one twin up for adoption... how would the kid ever get over that?

DunnoKidz

pickarooney wrote: »

Jesus, putting one twin up for adoption... how would the kid ever get over that?

living separately is just how life goes for some of us... kids just deal, as in so many other circumstances kids are resilient (adults don't seem as).