To wonder about identical twins?

[Slitherie]

How come you never get identical twins where one is fat and the other is skinny?

They always seem to be the same size?

I’ve been thinking about this since watching dogs behaving badly earlier in the week. Is it because IT are likely to have a very similar appetite? Or is it a clue that weight is largely down to genetics?

Adam Pearson is an identical twin. I know NF can vary significantly but as someone with NF the stark differences between Adam and Neil never cease to amaze me.

They are in their early sixties now, there were no ultrasound scans when they were in utero. They said they were counted as fraternal and in the flesh were easily distinguishable. But more alike than non twin sisters.

Identical twins are a nightmare for the criminal justice system. Fortunately, they don't have identical fingerprints.

How often do you reckon IDs share boyfriends/girlfriends? I was at school with a set of identical triplet boys and they were found to be sharing girlfriends and the poor girls didn’t have a clue

Surely then they were guilty of rape. The girls would not have consented to sex if they had realised it wasn’t their boyfriend.

Online DNA tests are cheap enough and knowing you're an ID twin as opposed to fraternal is very valuable when it comes to illnesses and treatments. Knowing you have the same blood type and share DNA means you have an instant donor if need be in lots of cases.

I understand that technology has moved on, but they can still find out now. Or they should say they don't know to the question if they're identical. Rather than call themselves fraternal.

I'm an identical twin and I can use Face ID to open my sister's phone.

I'm not sure this is foolproof - my brother has the latest IPhone and was utterly horrified that our father could open it with his face.

DHs cousins are identical twins. I didn't actually realise at first as one was muscular and the other a lot softer (not fat, just not toned). But once I knew, it was obvious.

Re passports.. I had a friend who travelled to the US on her sisters passport as she was a month of 21 and wanted to join the rest of us in bars. A year older, easily mistaken for twins.

How did they get past finger prints and retinal scan?

I don’t know, this was back in the early 90s, nobody took it seriously as far as I remember 😞

@Slitherie it was nearly 20 years ago! Probably wouldn't work now.

I have identical twin siblings, one has always struggled with their weight, the other hasn’t.

This has been a theme throughout their lives.

I have identical twins. There was 10lb weight difference at birth and now (aged 5) one is 1cm taller. I weighed them last week and they both weigh exactly the same! I was surprised about that, but they do eat very similarly I suppose.

Or alternatively for making you feel really bad about yourself .

I know of of two sets of adult identical twins, both female and late middle age . None of them are married and still live with their twin sister. One set still dress identically in their 60s. The other set who I know about better have tried to form their own identities but have similar tastes in clothing, hairstyles, are the same size and shape (one has slightly rounder face). They do have their own interests but still spend a lot of time together.

I mean 10 ounces not pounds!

A very interesting thread!
I have younger siblings who are twins. She was a portly baby who was slow to move, but quick to talk! He was swift on his feet but a slow and poor speaker. They complemented each other as toddlers. He would run for the snacks and give her hers while she sat there (he once made the mistake of giving her a rusk he'd already bitten ) and she would tell the rest of us what he was trying to say.
Happy, adorable days.

I taught a pair of very disruptive, identical teen twins. They used their twinhood to great advantage against getting disciplined, until one of their mates let on to me that one of them had a small mole on the side of his nose. I hadn't noticed it before. Total game-changer!😂

Fat parents generally result in fat kids and similarly slim parents tend to have slim kids. I think it’s more environment than anything else.

We don’t have finger prints or scans on UK passports?

One of my best friends from uni is an identical twin and I find it fascinating, op. I'm always messaging him random questions about twin life.

I have no issue telling him apart from his twin but then because we met at uni and his twin was at a different uni, I rarely saw them together. In photos etc or if I go and visit the family I can totally tell them apart. My friend tells me he learnt from a young age to answer to both his own and his twin's name. I teach a set of identical twins and usually mum helps me out by giving one a pony tail and the other pig tails but if I can't see their hair fully I do have to guess and both will answer to the other's name. How annoying that must be for them.

My fave fact about identical twins is that because they're biologically identical, their children although cousins, are biologically half siblings. Neither of my twin friends have children yet though so I can't text how similar they look.

That's what I meant tbh 😂

Whether it's aspirational or through making you feel bad though, there's an extra pressure to keep the weight down.

No but to get into the USA they scan fingerprints and eyes. I’m surprised they don’t take a full on DNA sample to be honest 😂

I've got identical twin girls, now in their 30's. They were very similar as young babies, in fact I got them muddled up once. My dh put one baby back in the wrong cot, it was the middle of the night and I was half asleep so put the baby I had back in the empty cot. The following day, I got twin 2 up, washed, fed and dressed and it wasn't until I'd finished I looked at her and thought it was the wrong twin. I had to take her upstairs and compare her to the other one as there was a slight difference facially, but not noticeable until you had them together.

They used to swap English classes and the teachers never noticed. I found out after the fact that one of them took the practical part of an exam for the other, and the other did the written part. They both passed, little buggers.
They sound alike and look alike but they are changing as they're getting older. They are both very slim but so is the whole family.