• Welcome to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

Not Twins

 
 
 
I

ideologyhunter

Contributor
Joined
Jan 10, 2004
Messages
7,563
Location
Port Clinton, Ohio
Basic Beliefs
atheism/beatnikism
You are introduced to two 5-year-old girls. They look so much alike that you ask, and ascertain the following:
> They have the same January birthday in 2009
> They share the same biological mother and father
> They are not twins. Not identical twins, not fraternal twins

(This one is actually pretty easy to explain. However, I am going for a fairly specific narrative.)
 
They could have been born by invitro fertilization. Be nice to both of them.

One could be an evil twin from an alternate dimension. Ask them both you you should kill and shoot the other one from the one who says that you should shoot her.
 
Oh... Maybe the mothers and fathers of the two girls are both identical twins, IE: Jan and Jen grew up as identical twin sisters and Dill and Bill grew up as identical twin brothers. Jan and Jen met Bill and Dill and fell in love and got knocked up 3 days later. Jan and Dill gave birth to one of the girls and Jen and Bill gave birth to the other one. Both just happened to be born on the same day.

Now the girls aren't twins or even sisters. They are cousins, but genetically have the same biological mother and father because the genes of each mother and father is exactly the same.
 
Surrogacy. The woman couldn't carry a pregnancy but her eggs are ok. They hired two surrogates and implanted one egg in each. They happened to be born on the same day.
 
steve_bnk said:
A new forum phenomena.

The drive by puzzler....
Click to expand...

[pedantry] Phenomena is a plural. It is either a new phenomenon, or several new phenomena. [/pedantry]

From Wikipedia:

Quints by Surprise is a reality television show produced in the United States...

Alternatively:

Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003) was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell...
 
bilby said:
steve_bnk said:
A new forum phenomena.

The drive by puzzler....
Click to expand...

[pedantry] Phenomena is a plural. It is either a new phenomenon, or several new phenomena. [/pedantry]

From Wikipedia:

Quints by Surprise is a reality television show produced in the United States...

Alternatively:

Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003) was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell...
Click to expand...

Don't have a clue as to what you are babbling about and why.

Back to the ignore list for you.

It seems like the ignore function works just fine. Much easier than on the old software.
 
Last edited:
But if they are, say, two out of a set of triplets, aren't they twins, too?

If i'm choosing sides for touch football and get both of them ,and their other sibling(s) aren't playing, can i accurately state that 'i got the twins?' Or must i say 'i got two from a set of (triplets, quadruplets, The Sister Gang)?'
 
Keith&Co. said:
But if they are, say, two out of a set of triplets, aren't they twins, too?

If i'm choosing sides for touch football and get both of them ,and their other sibling(s) aren't playing, can i accurately state that 'i got the twins?' Or must i say 'i got two from a set of (triplets, quadruplets, The Sister Gang)?'
Click to expand...

I have never heard anybody (who is aware of the existence of the other sibling(s)) refer to two triplets (quads, quins etc) as twins. For one thing, that would skew the statistics as every set of triplets would also be three sets of twins ;)
 
EricK said:
Keith&Co. said:
But if they are, say, two out of a set of triplets, aren't they twins, too?

If i'm choosing sides for touch football and get both of them ,and their other sibling(s) aren't playing, can i accurately state that 'i got the twins?' Or must i say 'i got two from a set of (triplets, quadruplets, The Sister Gang)?'
Click to expand...

I have never heard anybody (who is aware of the existence of the other sibling(s)) refer to two triplets (quads, quins etc) as twins. For one thing, that would skew the statistics as every set of triplets would also be three sets of twins ;)
Click to expand...
Technically you can have identical twins within the subset of triplets. One egg splits and one egg is separately fertilized. And they have recently noted a potential third type of twin. One where an egg spontaneously divides but is actually fertilized by TWO separate sperm. 1/2 identical, 1/2 fraternal
 
You all pass. Because I am a lazy teacher. Also, because the in vitro answer caught me off guard. The specific narrative I was going for: they are fellow octuplets from the Octomom's baby shower of 1/'09.
 
I have seen this riddle before, and "triplets" is the standard solution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom