She should have known this...

So I was on Digg today and stumbled across a story about "10 Things You Should Never Say to Twins". Yeah, sounds stupid, doesn't it? My better judgment was overridden somehow. Current working theory is temporary mental impairment due to micro-stroke.

It was written by one of the two twins staring in some new dating show. I didn't care to figure out which one, so I'll just call her "twin 1". Anyway, I browsed through the list feeling skeptical that anyone had actually said those things to her. I was feeling a little stupid for even reading the article and was about to stop when I noticed something. Number three reads:

"You're not twins. (People try to get in arguments about how we're not identical twins. Identical doesn't mean that we look exactly the same, identical means that we came from the same placenta. But when I talk about placentas they get all flustered.)"

Now... I may have just had a minor stroke (again, just the current theory), but I'm pretty sure that doesn't make any sense. I'm almost remiss to bring it up, but lets face it, what's the point of the internet if I can't make fun of people anonymously? Also, I have nothing better to do on a Sunday night. Perhaps twin 1 just wants publicity for her trashy reality show, and was talked into writing this article. Fine, but at least do a little research. One would expect that if you were say, a fireman or a pilot, you would know a bit about fires and planes respectively. Same goes for being a twin. You really ought to know a bit about it.

So here's the skinny, twin 1; twins are not twins because they come from one placenta. The placenta is the organ that develops in the womb that delivers nutrients and processes waste. It is also fucking gross. If you've never seen one, have a look. I'll wait... ... gross, huh? Some people eat that thing... anyway, back on topic. Twins can have individual placentas or share one. It's just not a factor. So I can indeed understand how people get "flustered" when you talk about placentas, twin 1. They're probably thinking to themselves, "Is everything I know about twins wrong?" It's a natural reaction, considering you would expect a twin to know what caused her to be a twin.

So what is a twin? I'm sure twin 1 knows by now, after the flood (trickle?) of comments and emails this article probably produced. If you paw through the ones with subject lines like, "YOUR HOTT" and the more grammatically correct, "YOU ARE HOT", you'll probably find a few that say the following: monozygotic, or "identical" twins are the product of a single fertilized egg that split into two complete embryos early in development.

So... for shame, twin 1. You're just playing into the blond model stereotype. I know that they aren't putting you on TV for your brains... but still. Oh, and by the way, the rest of the list was really vapid as well.