Twins and other multiples

[Hawktalon]

I was surprised there wasn't any discussion on twins, so I'm making a topic!

 

I myself am a twin, 3 minutes older than my brother. It always makes me laugh when people don't know what fraternal twins are, or didn't think they existed. No, we're not exactly alike nor polar opposites in personality, and we love/hate each other as most siblings would. And we don't have twin telepathy.

 

I have a few friends who are twins, too, and some of my best friends who I've known since preschool are triplets.

 

While I have nothing against Fred and George, I think there should be more books with twins who are just like normal siblings, not striving to be complete opposites or exactly alike to the point of speaking in unison. My brother and I are in the same grade, and share some friends, but really, we lead different lives, just as other people would. We're not even in any classes together. You don't really stop and consider being a twin different.

 

So, do you know any twins, or triplets, or other multiples? Discuss!

[satyr76]

One of my friends has a fraternal twin. Although I don't talk to her sister much, from what I've seen, they aren't alike at all.

 

I think I might have cousins that are twins. I don't remember. |D

/doesn't see his cousins much

[funnygirl98]

i go to school with a set of twins once, they swapped places..it was funny.

[Laurarockstar]

I am neigbors with two sets of twins. The first ones are older and look almost exactlly alike while the others look similar.

[Ruins]

I've known two sets of twins, and I never learnt which one was which. (Then again, I still confuse two cousins who look almost nothing alike, so it's probably just me...)

[lulubelle00]

My two closest friends are twins. I remember the day we met. They we fighting on the bus in kindergarten over who got the sit next to the window. I stop them from fighting and the bus driver has me sit in between them so the don't choke each other.

 

Six years later and we're still friends.

[Elbereth91]

I'm a twin, but I'm nothing like my brother.

First of all, that's probably because I'm a girl.. But even in character we're not much alike. But that's probably because he's severely handicapped.. Something went wrong with air not reaching his brain when he was born.. ( you don't need to feel sorry for me I've known him all my life, so I got used to the situation. To me it's all just normal, and my brother is perfect to me!) We were born 3 months early, and he's exactly 1 minute older than me! We do have some things in common, but not more than I have in common with my younger sister..

[Kelkelen]

My great-aunt and great-uncle on my mom's side were twins -- when they were born, they weren't totally healthy, and the family was afraid they were going to die unbaptized (Slovak-American community, very Catholic!), so a relative rushed them to the priest. But when they got there, they realized they had no idea what the intended names were, so the twins were originally baptized Adam and Eve! Later, they were 're-baptized' with their given names, but Adam and Eve were kept as their middle names.

 

Not related to any other twins personally, but it runs in that side of the family, so I wouldn't be surprised if one day my sister or I gives birth to a pair.

 

As a teacher, I've taught 1 set of twins, and 1 of triplets! The triplets were two girls and a boy, and I *think* they were identical; they all looked so similar. But is it possible to be identical twins and yet different sexes? Or not? The twins are fraternal, and look *nothing* alike -- the boy is dark-skinned with thick, curly dark hair and dark brown eyes, while the girl is light-skinned with thin, curly light brown hair and green eyes, and their facial features are all different, too. They don't do anything 'stereotypically twin-ish,' just goof around like any pair of siblings.

[Emmerz24]

There's fraternal twins that go to my school! Just putting it out there haha. I don't personally know any twins other than that. There's a gene for them in my family somewhere and I hope that I get to have twins. It'd be so cool!

[elderberrysyrup]

When I had irl friends, one of them was a pair of fraternal twins. They were just like normal brother/sister, and both had their own things. However, they had similar interests (the whole family was gamers and nerds though, so no issue there).

[babybluefire]

I am an identical twin. People don't often realize that even identical twins do not have to look exactly alike. The earlier the single egg separates the more possible difference, yes they may look mostly the same, but freckles and other smaller details are different.

 

I am actually nearly 3 inches taller then my twin. She got married younger and had her daughter younger. She stopped growing at 5'1''. I got married later and had my children later. I am 5'4''.

 

 

There are may sets of identical twin girls in my family. Fraternal twins were long ago proven to be a genetic trait and for a long time identical s were thought to be random. That has been proven false, however they do not know what genes causes the split to happen as of yet.

[pokemonzoo]

My twin is also on this forum sometimes, Zeekaice |D

We have no idea if we're fraternal or what, as it never really mattered enough to us to ask someone. We pretty much share a brain and will say the same things on accident sometimes.

It's weird to us that all the twins we've met in real life weren't all that close, I honestly can't really imagine it.

[Pippyspot]

The only twins I knew were from infant school and they got along very well. Other than that, I don't really know any twins

 

Twins have always fascinated me, though - Would love to be one myself

[polos1993]

Well I may not have a twin twin, but I do have an irish twin. I was born 11 months, 3 weaks and 6 days before my sister was born. We get the same age for one week and a day, and I tease my sister about being the same age as me until my B-day comes. Also my great grandmother and my grandmother were twins so it is highly possible that I could give birth to twins.

[Kittenshy-Plush]

Gosh, I don't know where to start with this one. I have a history of twins in the family! Fraternal twins from my father's side and identical twins on my mother's side. My grandfather is a twin and so are my mother and aunt. It skipped over my generation so that means we do have a higher chance of having twins when we get older. Lucky me. XP

 

And yes, I agree, just because your a twin doesn't mean you'll act, think or lead the same life as your fraternal or identical sibling. Everyone has their own will and life no matter what genetics may say about you. In movies and stories, sure it seems pretty neat for twins to have some sort of inner connection. For example, if one twin is hurt or sick and for the other twin to feel the pain they are in or know when something is wrong with their sibling. (Maybe I watch too much T.V. XP)

 

In any case, good topic of choice!

[Nine]

Psychologists sure looooove twins. It's strange though, every book I've read that had twin characters, one of them always ends up dying. They're like the redshirts of novels.

[Bardess]

The twins are fraternal, and look *nothing* alike -- the boy is dark-skinned with thick, curly dark hair and dark brown eyes, while the girl is light-skinned with thin, curly light brown hair and green eyes, and their facial features are all different, too. They don't do anything 'stereotypically twin-ish,' just goof around like any pair of siblings.

Well, that doesn'r surprise me. Fraternal twins are normal siblings, only that they were in the womb together and were born at almost the same time.

Their genes don't have more in common than that of other siblings. 'course there's still the chance of them being very similar and close, but that chance is, at least to my knowledge, about the same as for any other pair of siblings.

 

 

As a teacher, I've taught 1 set of twins, and 1 of triplets!  The triplets were two girls and a boy, and I *think* they were identical; they all looked so similar.  But is it possible to be identical twins and yet different sexes?  Or not?

 

Looking similar does not mean that you have to be identical twins. Even normal siblings can look very much alike (though probably you wouldn't notice it that much as they aren't the same age).

The sex is determined by the genes, it is very unlikely that they are identical twins (triplets?). Though there is a tiny, tiny chance that for one of them something went wrong after they were seperated in the womb but before the sex was determined in appearance. Sometimes something goes wrong and then people look a different sex than they actually are.

I don't know what causes it, though, and am not sure why it should happen to only one if they are identical twins.

 

 

So, my bet would be that they are fraternal twins who just happen to look very similar.

Identical twins have the same set of genes so they lways look very, very much alike (though small differences are possible, some parts of the appearance don't depend that much on genes).

Fraternal twins and normal siblings can look almost identical, but can look very different as well. It depends on what part of their parent's genes they actually get. the chance is rather high that their genes will be rather different, but there is always the possibility of them ending up with almost the identical set of genes.

[Duysterwald]

My maternal grandmother is a fraternal twin; she was born several minutes before her brother. Since he got married in his early 20s, her brother has always lived quite far away and so I don't remember ever having had the opportunity to see the two of them together and interact in ways that twins are often said to do.

 

I've been told that descendants of someone who is/was a twin have a higher chance of having twins themselves. So far, I have seen no proof of that in my personal environment: neither my grandmother or her brother had any twins, and neither are there any twins among their grandchildren. It seems like the twin gene isn't very strong or something - or maybe it'll rear its head again when the grandchildren are starting families of their own. We'll see - I hope it won't happen to me, because frankly, two screaming babies at once might be too much for me to handle.

[Anna Selka]

My roommate has a twin brother. She gets on well with him, but they definitely aren't as close as I am with my younger sister (we are 1 1/2 years apart). So there goes that myth

 

I also knew identical twin girls when I was a child. It was really fun when they would dress alike, I for one couldn't tell them apart

 

My sister has been friends with identical twin boys for a while. She can tell them apart (one is slightly smaller and thinner). Their personalities are very different : one is exuberant and very witty, the other is more shy and quiet. He feels like his brother always gets all the attention and never leaves him any breathing space. In some cases having a twin isn't very fun.

 

I'd say it has its good sides and bad sides like many things in life ! But there really is a fascination around twins. I think a lot of people feel envious.

[Kelkelen]

Oh! I don't know how I forgot -- my brother's wife is a twin! When she and her brother were little kids, they somehow spontaneously had their own language that they spoke to each other. How cool is that?

 

Also, when my great-uncle Steve (Adam) passed away, his twin, my great-aunt Helen (Eve) was aware of it, though they were both in nursing homes and many miles apart. She started crying and, though she was mostly unresponsive at that time, became very lucid and told the nurses that something had happened to Stevie.

[Seregir]

I'm a new guy here and this thread stuck out to me, mainly because, IM A TWIN!

 

My brother and I are twins, he found dragcave and got me addicted to it. He was born eleven minutes before me. We are identical twins, though, a lot of people always have to ask, "are you to related?", "you guys are twins?", "you don't really look alike". Well, we do look alike. Don't know why people don't see it.

[olympe]

I once read about a woman who was pregnant for the sixth time - with her sixth set of triplets. (Of the former five sets, only 8 children survived thanks to poor (medical) conditions.) The mother had gotten it from her grandmother, who's had two sets of triplets herself. That's downright scary, though. (Lucky me, I don't have multiples anywhere in my family.)

[sir_horsey_XIX]

I have friends who are fraternal twins. The two look nothing alike, and in fact, some people thought one of the girls' friend was the twin instead. The two don't really act much like twins except for the occasional answering of a question in unison, but they are closer (whether or not they admit it) than most sisters that are close in age.

 

There are also two little twin boys at my church. I think they are identical, because unless they tell me their names, I can't tell them apart. I know when they were in the class I help with, their parents would dress them the same and they would switch places occasionally. However, as they're getting older, I can tell them apart easier. One is more artistic than the other, so I know which brother I'm looking at when I see the one who is always doing art or playing with something he made.

 

EDIT: I actually might be a twin. I learned that sometimes identical twins form in the mother, but one is miscarried early on. Apparently because certain parts of their bodies are mirrored due to the splitting, that is how some left-handed people are born as a single child. I think I was originally left-handed, but my parents taught me to use my right when I was very young so I wouldn't have to use hard-to-find left-handed stuff. Also, my grandma mentioned a tip that if someone sleeps on their left side, it can help an upset stomach. For me, it's the right. Don't know if that's enough evidence, but it's a weird thought that I might have had a sister.

Edited April 7, 2012 by sir_horsey_XIX

[Daydreamer09]

My great grandmother gave birth to 2 sets of twins, my grandma was from one of them. ^^

 

I actually dont have any known relatives in my parents' generation or my generation who are twins. All the twins or multiples I've met have been through school or work. In high school, there were two pairs of twins one identical and the other fraternal whom I played softball with. One of my current coworkers is a triplet with two brothers.

 

Its funny, sometimes I joke around with my younger brother (5 years younger) that we have a rare form of sibling esp similar to twin esp. We occasionally have the same random thoughts.

[Draco Knight]

I terrified of ever having children. ._. My mother is a fraternal twin, I have fraternal twin cousins, my great aunt is a fraternal twin, my great grandmother was an identical twin, and my great great aunt was a fraternal twin. All on my mother's side, no twins in the last few generations on my father's side.

 

It's very interesting to see my mother with her twin. My mother hasn't had the easiest life, but it certainly hasn't been hard. Unlike my aunt, who had a child by 16, has led a very stressful life, is a smoker, eats terribly, and is an alcoholic. My mother has smoking in common.

 

My mother looks a good 10 years younger than her twin when in reality she isn't even 10 minutes younger. I constantly tell my mom whenever someone is shocked that my aunt and her are twins, "Could you imagine the difference if you stopped smoking? People would think she was your mother!"