Scary Stuff

There are always two twins.

I just read this in a scholarly article: "Studies have shown that two identical twins are more likely to have anxiety problems than two non-identical twins, which tells us that our genes probably play a role." Here's the troubling part: You can only have two identical twins!

Obviously just one cannot be a twin, and you cannot have three identical twins because then they are called triplets. Four are called quadruplets, and so on. Twins are defined as "two offspring produced by the same pregnancy." See that? The word "two" is inferred. You don't have to say "two twins" ever. If one of the twins dies you can say, "The poor remaining twin is bereft." You can say, "The only twin that's left is lonely." You can certainly say, "I'm glad that was the twin that lived, I hated that other one." But you never need to say "two twins." It's just dumb and stupid and redundant.

Think about it next time.