every time i go out with the twins i hear 3 things. from smart people. people who, well, who could, at minimum, tell you that although peaches and bananas are fruit, they are not the same fruit. see where this is going?
stranger: twins! and you are out of the house already???
me: apparently.
stranger: a boy and a girl? you are so clever!
me: thanks?
and it never freaking fails, followed by this…
stranger: are they identical?
me: insert blank stare. i would slap my forehead at this point, but i think that might be rude.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Lol!
I read a long series of old books when I was a child that featured a set of twins, Dickie & Mary, who were described in every book as being “identical twins”. Even at the age of 8 or 9 I was slapping my forehead at the author.
Surely people also tell you they are beautifully cute? If not they certainly should be doing.
Awwwwwww, they’re so cute! I know how you feel because I have two brothers who are 2 years apart and people think they’re twins!
hahahahhahahaha. ’nuff said! Your kids are beautiful!
I am laughing at the ridiculous things people say. I mean really.
First I am sure you had control over the gender of your babies, The identical they really can not be for real. It has to be an insert foot in mouth kinda thing, not thinking before speaking. And I love you are outta the house part that is just funny. Nope you are just imaging me standing in front of you.
Have a good week.
I am glad to hear that there are stupid people down under as well. I would not the Northern hemisphere to get lopsided
Doh, can’t edit don’t I look stupid ha ha …..
I would not want the Northern hemisphere to get lopsided
I think I already said it on a flickr post, but I’m a 24 year old fraternal twin and people still ask me if my twin BROTHER and I are identical. I still don’t really know how to answer them, but no matter what I say they usually feel dumb. ha. Clover and Kieran will get to answer that question for a LONG time.
I have b/g twins too. And get asked this question by people who I formerly believed to be intelligent. The answer I always wanted to give was “well, why don’t you look in their diapers and let me know if they are identical.” But I never had the guts. Now, there is a genetic way they COULD be identical, but that requires extra chromosomes and a lot more explanation on how gender and sex characteristics emerge, but that’s much more complicated an answer than most people want. And it’s so rare that it’s not really worth the extra effort to get into it with them.
d’you read Everyday Stranger? She has 11-month-old B-G twins and gets the same comments ALL THE TIME. Plus, she’s bloody HILARIOUS and also an American expat (though she’s in England).
Hahhaha.
LMAO!
I’m in nursing school, and people still ask the “can boy and girl twins be identical?” the first semester. You would think after having Anatomy & Physiology/Biology courses as pre-requisites would give them a clue. *headdesks*
Found your blog through Flickr btw, I’m a long time admirer of your photographs.
Without fail, my least favorite and most-often heard expression is “Don’t you have your hands full!”
jeff says he’s asked that before…
… he’s so pleased i am letting you know as well.
I’m confused about why that makes you clever. I mean, I’m sure you are. But… I’m fairly sure, too, that that has little to do with the ability to produce a boy and a girl at the same time. Just saying.
My friend works in a Bunnings store. Last week they painted a wall. There was a sign on it that said ‘wet paint’. No one ever felt the need to touch the wall before, but she reported a string of people going up, touching the wall, and then looking cross that they had paint on their fingers.
I’m starting to believe the conspiracy theorists that aliens started civilisation. I just don’t know that we could ahve done it ourselves. Well, maybe if we had enough clever people who could make twins…
I think that is my fav pic of them so far.
As for the strangers…. Tell them that is possible for b/g twins to be identical, but that is extremely rare.
“We all learned in high school biology that male DNA have an X-chromosome and a Y-chromosome and it’s the Y-chromosome which makes him male and female DNA have two X-chromosomes. Well, in the case of mixed-gendered identical twins, which always begin male, the Y-chromosome disappears, and science has offered no explanation for it. As a result of losing the Y-chromosome, the male twin becomes female with an XO DNA chromosome pairing. The name for this condition is called Turner’s Syndrome.”
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art1291.asp
Sesame, just wanted to warn you.
Be aware. I was reading BrendaLeann’s flickr picture of Randie and it showed a link to all the images stolen in the past couple of weeks and their are lots of pictures of Gemma on these bad websites. IT really angers me that people have nothing better to do than wreck our lives and the photos of kids.
Just wanted to let you know.
Oh, that is funny. The smartest people say the dumbest things.
OMG! Too funny!
I think people just want to know if they look at all a like. Maybe you could have “they’re completely different” embroidered on your stroller.
still, people don’t read. good luck with this for the very rest of your life! 
oh yes. we have triplets- two boys and a girl. we have been asked if they were identical a number of times.
OMG!! I get that all the time. When my twins (boy&girl) were babies and someone would ask that my then 5 year old son would quickly say, “well no only one of them has a peepee!” Even people in my family would ask that, I would very sarcastically reply, no but only because one is a boy and the other is a girl. Helllloooo People!
Lurker from flickr here…I have g/g twins (who are now 9! where has the time gone?!) (and yes, they are identical). I don’t know what it is about having infant multiples out in public, but they really seem to bring out the idiot brigade. The worst question I ever heard was from a stranger at the mall when the girls were about 4 months: “So which one’s the stupid one?” She laughed like it was the best joke ever. I couldn’t walk my babies away from her fast enough.
Having twins myself, I know about all the goofy things people but the weirdest by far was ” Are they biological?”
JOlie(Friend of Myra’s in Arizona)
I wanted to make a tee that reads “Yes, My fucking hands are full!”
as a fraternal twin myself (i have a twin brother), the “are you identical?” question is always the most asked. once, even a doctor asked me that. just as it came out of his mouth he realized what he’d asked and became SO embarrassed. it was great.
i love your stories and if it’s even possible.. i love your little ones! they are so precious!