I’m a twin. I feel fortunate to be a twin, except the part where I am consistently asked the same questions on a daily basis.
Here are the most frequently asked questions that my twin and I received over the years, and how my brother, Jason, and I respond.
What’s it like to be identical twins?
It’s difficult to fully explain because we have a half brother who is about 15 years older than us. So, I can’t explicitly state that twins have closer connections than other siblings.
I assume it’s just like any other sibling, with the perk of being born on the same day (and looking much more similar). Twins tend to have special bonds, but there are other twins who are closer to their other siblings rather than their twin.
It’s just like having a best friend who happens to be in the same family and has almost the same plans as you do. I’m used to friends calling us “the twins” and “the clones,” so I associate the two terms closely.
Do you guys like being twins?
For the most part, yes. If I had to choose between having a twin and having a brother who isn’t a twin, I would choose twin.
The only time it sucks is when we disagree with each other because we know each other’s secrets and weaknesses. When it comes to competition, we both possess similar skills. Imagine fighting against yourself, you already know what you are thinking and about to do.
However, being a twin is one of the best icebreakers. It opens the door to long conversations and interesting facts about twins.
Do people confuse you two?
All the time. Friends tend to find it more fun when it comes to guessing, and those who spend enough time around us can tell us apart. However, most friends tend to cheat by taking a mental note on our shoe color. Even family occasionally confuses us – my parents still get confused.
Can you guys read each other’s minds and feel each others pain?
No. We don’t have any special powers like twin telepathy, but we sometimes come up with the same idea, joke or realization at the same time. Fortunately, we don’t feel each other’s pain either. I figure any set of twins who could feel each other’s pain would punch themselves consistently in order to inflict pain on each other. That would be interesting to watch.
Do you guys fight a lot?
All the time. I have a feeling that somehow being a twin means we fight about the most meaningless things, but that might just be us.
Do you guys ever play tricks on people?
Unfortunately, no. Don’t get me wrong, I have a long list of prank ideas that only identical twins could pull off. I always wanted to get a haircut, then have my twin come in asking for the same haircut, in hopes to freak out the barber. Either that, or pull off the “magic barber” stunt, where we somehow come out with more hair than we had when we entered the barber shop.
I get the impression that many people hesitate to ask us if we are twins or even to say our names because they think it’s insulting to us. Honestly, we don’t feel insulted. I can’t speak for other sets of twins, but if you are curious, go ahead and ask us anything.
