Frequently Asked Questions: Having a Twin Brother
I have a twin brother. It’s not a big deal to me, but a lot of people find it interesting, and so I get asked about it a lot. I’ve gotten sick of and/or irritated by a lot of these questions. Plus, a lot of them are pretty ridiculous. I decided that it’d probably be helpful for all of us if I just answered all of them here.
What’s it like having a twin?
Honestly, it’s nothing special to me. For almost 10 years I had only sibling, that being my twin, of course. Having a twin is all I know.
It’s not like it’s that unusual. It’s not like we look alike. It’s just like having a normal brother who happens to have the same birthday as me. That’s basically it.
Who’s older?
I’m older. One minute doesn’t mean anything though.
Are you identical?
This is the first question people ask me when they find out I have a twin, usually after “Who’s older?” I still find it pretty ridiculous that some people still think that twins with different genders can be identical. I remember learning that in grade 1, so to me it’s like common knowledge. Twins that are of different genders cannot be identical.
When I’d explain that to them, they’d suddenly get all defensive and say things like, “But I saw boy and girl twins that look exactly the same”. That’s just a coincidence. You can’t be identical if one is a boy and one’s a girl. It’s a fact, so don’t argue with me.
Can you read each other’s minds?
Stupid question. Absolutely no. That would be damn creepy.
Happy Birthday, Clarisse! When’s your brother’s birthday, by the way?
Stupid.
Can you draw like your brother?
Unfortunately, my brother got all the drawing talent. He’s amazing. I suck. It’s like people automatically assume I can draw just because he can. In the same way, others always seem to expect my brother to know how to sing just because I sing.
Do you have any other questions about me and my twin? Do you have a twin too? Are there questions that you’re sick and tired of answering over and over again? Write about it in the comments!
I’d also love it so much if you subscribed to my blog’s feed (absolutely free, I promise) and followed me on Twitter, if you haven’t already!
It’s funny. People ask all these questions when you have a twin. It seems nice to have a twin, and sometimes funny when your mother is trying to call you but sometimes it seems tiresome as well. I never did know that you have a brother, so here’s a random question, what’s your brother’s name?
I had read a “like” on Facebook and it said something like, “Imagine if you were born on 11:59, December 31st and your twin came out 1 minute after you.” That was an amazing discovery. That way, people would be surprised that you are born on, for example, 2011 and your brother was born on 2012. :P
ClarisseHe wouldn’t really want me to post his name online, but, if you were wondering, it sounds nothing like my name. It’s not like it’s just the guy version of Clarisse, haha. My mom’s more creative than that!
That would be cool, haha, but hard to explain when people ask!
Comment by Dorine • September 2, 2011 • 12:12 pm
*sigh* People sure are dumb sometimes. However, I’m certainly guilty of asking the first two questions on your list.
On the other hand, as twins, you get to experience some things that most of us don’t get to. For example, you and your brother might be in the same classes, and you might have the same friends. You’ll also experience the same things at the same time. And since my brother is seven years younger than me, there’s no way that we’ll get to do any of that. I’m sure that there are benefits and drawbacks to having a sibling that’s the same age.
In school here, we don’t have “classes”, really, at least not like you guys. We each have one class every year, and everyone in that class will have the same schedule and share the same room. My brother and I aren’t allowed to be in the same class because two people in one class with the same last name can be confusing.
We do have some similar friends though cause I do eventually end up being classmates with people he was classmates with before.\
I guess we do experience things at the same time. I also have a brother 10 years younger than me though, so I get to experience not experiencing what he’s experiencing too, haha.
Comment by Stephanie • September 3, 2011 • 12:44 am
I LOL-ed at a lot there. But it makes me want to have a twin. :D
It’s really nice how some people think twins are ALWAYS alike. Ignorance?And that comment above me? WAAAY COOL! \m/ I wonder how if that really happened. :o
Comment by Clauie • September 3, 2011 • 2:00 am
Honestly, when I knew that someone has a twin, I also ask a lot of questions. haha. I think having a twin is cool! MOst especially if you are of the same gender. But if not, like in your situation, I think it’s just like having a normal sibling. Am I right? lol. I wish I also have a twin hahaha
You can be of different genders while still being fraturnal, so I guess having a twin that’s the same gender could still be pretty much like my situation. :)
Comment by Mei • September 3, 2011 • 11:12 am
I’m always so fascinated by twins…but usually identical ones. All twins are cool, but unless they’re identical, it’s impossible to know unless I personally know one of them. I guess what baffles me the most is the idea of having someone in the same year of school as you living in your house. I know a few twins and I always wonder if they share homework answers when they have the same classes. From what I’ve gathered, they usually don’t because they don’t get along that well. I think that’s such a waste. If I had someone in the same classes as me, perpetually under the same roof, I’d be asking for help all the time.
There are 4 pairs of twins in my batch in school, haha.
My brother and I get along completely fine. I don’t really know of any twins that don’t.
We help each other with schoolwork all the time, but we don’t necessarily share homework because we’re the disciplined, “good-student” twins. Plus, it would be so obvious if one of us copied from the other. If we had exactly the same answers, and we were twins, wouldn’t you be suspicious if you were our teacher?
Comment by Gabi • September 4, 2011 • 4:40 am
ahaha LOLLLL this post is hilarious! XD i guess it’s only cool if you have an identical twin!
i seriously wonder who came up with the idea that twins can read minds. i agree…that’s just creepy O_O
Comment by Alex • September 4, 2011 • 10:39 am
I don’t have a twin, but twins run in my mom’s side of the family — and they skip generations, so it’s every other one. Either me or my sister Mary will have it, but apparently the chances of me having it are very high. Blah.
Twins I’ve met have said that when one is sad, they can feel it. Or if one of them is scared, sick, etc. But it isn’t with all of the twins I have met that that has happened.
Haha, what do you know? You learn more about your blogging buddies each post! :P
Comment by Liz • September 4, 2011 • 2:13 pm
My neighbour is a twin and her Mum can only have multiple births. They wanted to do a study on her, she said no.
How could a boy and a girl twin be identical? That’s madness and how retarded asking you your brothers birthday. I wonder though if you would still be classed as twins if one was born at 11.59pm and the other at 12.00am? Something to think about I guess :-)
That must be scary since having multiples can be dangerous. Are they all identical or fraturnal or what?
I’m pretty sure they’d still be considered twins, haha.
Comment by Ms H • September 4, 2011 • 2:54 pm
Haha, some of those questions really are … hmm can’t think of a nice word. I’m not a twin but I’m aware that fraternal twins are no more alike than any other brothers and sisters. Sometimes brothers and sister look exactly alike too and that’s just by coincidence. In the case of Mary Kate & Ashley many people think they’re identical but they just look too much alike and it can happen if they were just sisters.
I once got a question from a friend. “If you like one twin wouldn’t you like the other?” Directed towards identical twins that is. Uhh I’m pretty sure twins are two people, it’s not clones or anything.
Yeah, I heard that Mary-Kate and Ashley were fraurnal before, and I couldn’t believe it at first!
Identical twins look the same, but that doesn’t make them the same person.
Comment by Liv • September 6, 2011 • 12:30 am
I’ve always wanted to be a twin, I find it fascinating to be honest. We only have one set of twins in our family (my 2nd cousins), despite the fact I have a huge family.
We had 2 sets of twins in my year at school who were identical, and I could never tell the difference between them when they were together. I often got them mixed up but I guess they were used to it.
Some of those questions are just plain stupid; I mean, asking if you can read each other’s minds is ridiculous, of course you can’t. Being a twin doesn’t mean you have “magical” powers.
“When’s your brother’s birthday, by the way?” that may sound like a stupid question, but I was reading a magazine the other day and a lady had twins; one was born at 10pm and the second was born at 12:01am so they had different birthday’s. XD It can happen!
It annoys me when people think twins are the same, share the same interests, have the same skills, etc. It’s so narrow-minded to think that.
Comment by Vicky • September 6, 2011 • 9:34 pm
Aha that’s funny! I didn’t know you were a twin but I’m randomly finding out a lot of random bloggers have one. I actually have twin sisters so I kind of know what you’re going through. The question I hear the most from them is what you listed, “Who’s older?”
Most people don’t know they’re twins at first though since they don’t look anything alike. One looks like their mother and the other their father. It also doesn’t help that they have two different body types (one is like a stick and the other has a few extra pounds).
Freaky thing is that I think they can read each other’s minds. They complete each other’s sentences all the time which is uber creepy.
Kind of sucks now though. I remember being a twin used to be a pretty big thing because it was rare; now it seems like everyone is coming out with twins. I think most of them are cheating though by messing with genes; that’s just not fair.
P.S My site is still down but I was looking through my blogroll to see if people were still updating (unlike me) and your blog caught my eye.
Comment by Kelsey • September 7, 2011 • 12:11 am
[...] most of you know (and as the rest of you should know), I have a twin brother. Growing up, we did everything together, including watching T.V., so we basically liked the same [...]
Pingback by The Television of My Childhood | Clar.me • November 25, 2011 • 12:02 pm
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