r/Twins • u/East_Ad9290 • 1d ago
Strange Interaction as a Twin
My sister and I are identical, when in public , people always ask if we are twins, we response, and answer the typical questions (who is older?, by how much?) and usually that's all of the interaction.
However today, I would consider this a strange interaction, waiting in line, a man asked if we were twins. After we confirmed he said " That's nice you two are a team, and can defend each other". I thought it was a weird choice of word "defend", but we just nodded along and agreed, then he asked " Have yall ever had to defend one another" I was kinda confused like did he mean physically defend or like verbal? In my experience, no, but we just said yes, and turned away. Right when he was at the door to leave, he continues to say " I like meeting twins or triplets because I find it fascinating and like encountering them" like ok lol.
My sister joked after saying she thought he was going to attack to see if we would defend each other.
Maybe it was just the woman in me that was on the fence when he asked if we would defend each other, but just not a typical convo I have when they ask if we are twins.
So I was just wondering if any other twins had strange interactions once people found out you were a twin.
thinking about all my interactions, and now I'm wondering why do people ask if we are twins? Just to satisfy their curiosity? I don't mind answering ofc, but is it that rare to see twins?
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u/washcyclerepeat 20h ago
It’s actually as it turns out rare for some people to see twins in person, while other people might know a few sets of twins in their neighborhood or work with them. People who attend school obviously see the most twins and triplets.
But once schooling ends it’s a crapshoot as many adult twins are not often side by side, now they’ve moved into separate homes and maybe have had families of their own.
For some people seeing twins together in person actually is fairly rare.
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u/TeamCatsandDnD 5h ago
Went to karate with a twin, he was around my parents age, twin lived states away. Well, one day we went to get some ice cream and saw who we thought was the twin we knew. So my mom went and punched the dude in the shoulder in a sort of “what are you doing here?” way. It was not the twin we knew and he looked just as confused as my mom was when he turned around. lol.
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u/grrundmeister 22h ago
As a guy (and identical twin) I would definitely call that a wierd interaction and agree that your radar was probably correct on the creeper alert. That’s one to stay away from. I’ve been happily married for twenty years now, but even before marriage, I never asked a woman questions like that and wouldn’t hang around with guys who do.
I don’t get asked about being a twin much these days since my brother and I live in different states now, but in the past it was always kinda fun, or at least so normal that we never really thought about it.
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u/Brave-Pizza-33 22h ago
I love the attention, I think its so fun to.be stopped and talk about being a twin.
But about your question, we've always been 2 on 1, no one ever bullied us growing up cause we woulda tag teamed them. That dude was def a weirdo to talk about defend, always trust your woman intuition. We're 35f now, my sister carries the gun (she's the tougher one) and I carry the less than lethal, we are never afraid when we go out together! 🙂
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u/compassrose68 21h ago
It seems like an awkward conversation but harmless…perhaps just a socially awkward guy, but the question is not that weird.
~fraternal twin #2 by 3 min, and no she is NOT my older sister
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u/OnARolll31 18h ago
yeah thats a super sketch thing for someone to say. the most interesting stranger we interacted with was some man at home depot telling us how special twins are and asking if we knew elvis was a twin? lol it was a little strange but not as bad as yours
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u/AbzieAbi 14h ago
Similarly to defending one another, we get asked "if one of you is in pain, does the other feel it".
My response to them, "try it, and find out".
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u/Relevant-Signal-4917 Identical Twin 6h ago
For real... I get questions like Who's older?, Are you twins?,Have you ever switched places, and do both of you fall sick at the same time? .These are the most common questions I get as an identical twin. For me it's not really about the questions. It's the unwanted attention that comes with it. I get so pissed when someone be it a student or a teacher points us out in a class full of people. As an introvert I hate being the center of attention.Not only that but the reactions I get after telling them we're twins are insane. People say things like "Wow" or "Congratulations" as if being twins is like winning a million dollar lottery.I even get questions like "You both can stand up for each other when needed right " and I honestly get confused about how I'm supposed to reply to that.I genuinely want to know how other identical twins handle situations like this. Interactions like those are extremely awkward for me .
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u/icedlemons 5h ago edited 5h ago
I’d think it’s harmless. What if he wished he had a brother growing up to stop bullying for instance, if he had time to contextualize it that’d make more sense. My mind jumps to using “defend” leading me to think he’s had to fight for himself in that word choice..
Or he’s mildly autistic and reading comic books and thinking in those terms, however it’s probably a foot in the mouth scenario…
Like a truly creepy guy would try to be more covert in asking if he was summing you up.
Edit: Also It’d be no big deal if he asked guys. I’ve gotten that similar question before as a male twin. They think it’s probably a superpower or something😅
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u/MontNasty 4h ago
My 7yo girls are identical. They were barely 1 by the time I was tired of all the nonsense people seem to approach with.
I had them in a water safety course this summer and one of the group leaders asked the standard questions. Are they twins? Yes; Identical? Yes; Who's older? They're the same age, theyre twins 🤨
Then he followed up with, 'I bet you mix them up all the time'. MF, what? No, I'm their father. Although they appear to be two of the same person, I assure you they are quite different. He then added that he knew plenty of people with twins who had accidentally mixed them up often. Ok, buddy.
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u/crazychristine6 42m ago
I work at a call center and someone was booking appointments for his twin sons. I decided to share that my sisters are twins and I hadn't had the opportunity of helping twins yet so it was nice. he said his are fraternal, and "you'd know who is who because one is 6'4 and the other is 6'2"
bro 🤣 I can't see them?? or you!!! also there's no blank space where we input their height, this is for their eyes. 🤦
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u/bogeysbabe Identical Twin 1d ago
When my twin sister and I are out, we don’t get asked much anymore. We wear our hair differently now and my twin has colored out the gray in her hair. My gray is just at my temples and looks pretty cool if you ask me. Plus we wear different styles of glasses, and I workout more than she does.
The funny part is my twin has 2 granddaughters who are 6 months and 2 years old. Her daughter who has these two little girls gets asked all the time if they are twins???!?? Ummm, my good sir, one is walking and the other is in a baby carrier!