TWINS versus SINGLETONS
You know what they say - once a twin, always a twin. Whether identical or fraternal, twins are twins. Whether they get on or not, they are still twins. Something singletons can never really understand.
A twin can never talk about "when I was/did/etc, or where, I was/did/where and when" because there never was an "I" - it was always "we". "We" did this, or that, and "we" were wherever "we" is as natural to us as our mother tongue. It is impossible for us to imagine being a singleton, and however old we get, it is totally impossible for us to say "I" was/did/etc.
I am a twin. My twin sister and I are not identical, we are fraternal twins. We have never even looked like sisters let alone twins but people could never remember which name went with which face, so we grew up answering to either name. We didn't mind so much when we were young, but it could, and did, get rather embarrassing when it still sometimes happened when we were well into our adulthood. Especially when, years after my twin and her family had moved to the States and I was still living in the same area where we grew up.
There I was, strolling along the High Street, with my daughter walking beside me and my son in his buggy, when a shrill voice screeched out my twins' name. Automatically I turned round, even though I knew someone had made the same old mistake. "Mummy" said my daughter, "I thought your name was Gill - doesn't that name belong to our auntie? Well, how could I explain to a four-year old that some people think that twins both have the same name to some people?
We always blamed it on our parents, who insisted that they didn't realise the implications when they named us. My twin, who was born one hour before I arrived, was named Jaqueline, and I was named Gillian. When we were teenagers, she only acknowledged the name Jackie, and I gave up the last three letters of my name. So, we ended up as (sort of) Jack and Jill, even though I spell my name with a G not a J but the people who couldn't remember which name went with each face, still called us by our full names.
We were dressed identically, albeit in different colours, but that was because our mother used to make all our clothes. However, we reckon we were luckier that real identical twins. When my son was at primary school, there were two boys who WERE identical. And wearing school uniform, it was impossible for the teachers to know which was which. Their mother refused to let them wear name tags, and the poor boys used to get extremely frustrated being called by the wrong name.
Twins - who would want to be a singleton. Not us, that's for sure.
A twin can never talk about "when I was/did/etc, or where, I was/did/where and when" because there never was an "I" - it was always "we". "We" did this, or that, and "we" were wherever "we" is as natural to us as our mother tongue. It is impossible for us to imagine being a singleton, and however old we get, it is totally impossible for us to say "I" was/did/etc.
I am a twin. My twin sister and I are not identical, we are fraternal twins. We have never even looked like sisters let alone twins but people could never remember which name went with which face, so we grew up answering to either name. We didn't mind so much when we were young, but it could, and did, get rather embarrassing when it still sometimes happened when we were well into our adulthood. Especially when, years after my twin and her family had moved to the States and I was still living in the same area where we grew up.
There I was, strolling along the High Street, with my daughter walking beside me and my son in his buggy, when a shrill voice screeched out my twins' name. Automatically I turned round, even though I knew someone had made the same old mistake. "Mummy" said my daughter, "I thought your name was Gill - doesn't that name belong to our auntie? Well, how could I explain to a four-year old that some people think that twins both have the same name to some people?
We always blamed it on our parents, who insisted that they didn't realise the implications when they named us. My twin, who was born one hour before I arrived, was named Jaqueline, and I was named Gillian. When we were teenagers, she only acknowledged the name Jackie, and I gave up the last three letters of my name. So, we ended up as (sort of) Jack and Jill, even though I spell my name with a G not a J but the people who couldn't remember which name went with each face, still called us by our full names.
We were dressed identically, albeit in different colours, but that was because our mother used to make all our clothes. However, we reckon we were luckier that real identical twins. When my son was at primary school, there were two boys who WERE identical. And wearing school uniform, it was impossible for the teachers to know which was which. Their mother refused to let them wear name tags, and the poor boys used to get extremely frustrated being called by the wrong name.
Twins - who would want to be a singleton. Not us, that's for sure.
posted by Cookie @ 4:27 PM
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