In Honor of Finals Week...

This post will be short and sweet, about a movie recently watched when roomies and myself felt some procrastination was in order.

Seen On a Clear Day? Excellent movie, I recommend it.

A: It's got the whole UK thing going on, as it is set in Scotland. I pretty much love movies and TV shows made by our former landlords across the pond.

B: It's about swimming the Channel. I don't actually like open water swimming (just past the breakers is good enough for me, thanks), but I inexplicably enjoy watching movies or reading books about it. Lynne Cox' Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer is pretty freaking epic.

C: It has identical twin boys in it! Played by Andrew and James MacLennan, the boys' twinness isn't the focus of the movie. They are just a family that happens to have twins in it. A lot of movies with twins in them make the twins one of the focal points throughout the film. Andrew and James are just normal sons and grandsons in the movie, just as singletons would be. No hocus-pocus or kooky mix-ups here!

Cheers!
Alison

Eeeevil

Evil twins don't exist. Sure, there can be twinships where one is a better person or whatever. But there is no cosmic rule that in each pair of twins, there is an angel and a devil. You would be surprised how often we come across people who truly believe this. "Oh, come on," they say. "One of you *has* to be the bad twin." I would sometimes like to respond "Oh, well, then you *have* to be an idiot."

I don't, however. Wouldn't want them walking away, thinking they were right all along and this one is definitely the evil one, now would we?

Maybe they watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch episodes with Sabrina's evil twin (from an alternate universe) Katrina. Maybe they played Legend of Zelda and saw Link's evil twin Dark Link. Maybe they are Trekkies who saw Star Trek Nemesis, and since they watched a movie with Data and his evil twin B-4, they are now twin experts. I could go on and on with examples.

I am not even going to go into soap operas' use of the evil twin. It's just not a good soap if someone's not coming back to life after being offed by their evil twin, right? Katharine Chu wrote a paper, up on MIT's OpenCourseWare, about the decline of the soap opera. She's got a whole paragraph on the evil twin plot twist.

To be fair, a lot of "evil twins" in the media are actually evil, or misunderstood, doppelgangers, not identical twins. But people don't always... oh, alright, NEVER pick up on that subtlety.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some evil homework to do.

Cheers,
Alison

Twin Language

No, we do not have our (original) twin language anymore. We do have a sign language deal we made up, part ASL, part nonsense. But that is not a true idioglossia or cryptophasia.

"Idioglossia" is a scientific term for twin language. "Idio" comes from "idiosyncratic," and "glossia" means "of the tongue." "Cryptophasia" is another term for twin language, "crypto" means "secret" and "phasia" comes from "aphasia," a speech disorder.

Words we still remember from our language (because our family thought they were hilarious and therefore still occasionally uses them):
Fogee, Fogi, Foji: pronounced "Foh-jee," Baby A came up with that one for our older sister
Tack-tack: cracker
Fy-fy: fry

Our baby and toddler years were spent in Hawaii, so we picked up on some Hawaiian Pidgin as well. That had a hand in our pronunciation of things and our grammar. Our family still uses "all pao" sometimes for "all done, finished." Back then, we dropped the R or various other letters off of the ends of words. Apparently, one time when I got a plant piece in my foot, I went to my dad and said "I got one stickah in one foo." "One" is more commonly used in Pidgin than "an" or "a."

Our idioglossia was influenced by both English and Pidgin. The reason for an idioglossia between any siblings that are close in age is due to the natural mimicking and practicing of speech. When babies are together and practice talking, their mistakes get incorporated into their speech. It can turn into something that sounds like an entirely separate language.

Cheers,
Alison

School is Occasionally Useful

I am taking an intro to public speaking class. Because I figured it wouldn't be too bad. And because it filled a requirement for both of my majors. I'm nothing if not practical.

Our first big speech had to be an informative speech. And guess what I informed about? Twins. So out of character for me, I know.

So now I have some more research done about things I have yet to blog about. Idioglossia! Evil twins in the media (with examples)! Identical twinning and IVF! More science!

Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Alison

Marching for Maddie

Dear Madeline,

Baby A wrote a letter to you in the comments of one of your mommy's post. So I thought I would write a little something too.

Oh, Maddie. We all, ALL, wish you could be bopping along in your stroller or being carried by your daddy or hanging on to your mommy right now, as they, along with something like 70+ people, march on your March for Maddie team in LA. You have inspired so many people to get involved with the March of Dimes. I remember when I just landed on The Spohrs Are Multiplying, and I clicked on the tab "Who is Maddie?"At the bottom, your mommy wrote "She's even got a favorite charity!" with a link to the March of Dimes. I thought it was so cute. And when I saw your picture, I was gone. Gone. It was official. I was pretty much a Maddie fangirl, in a totally non-creepy, non-stalkerish way.

I still am a Maddie fangirl, you know. How could someone forget the Moozer? That's like someone forgetting about the sun. Your mommy called you her "sun eyed girl" and there could not be a more perfect description. Many of us only saw your beautiful eyes in photos, but their rays reached into our hearts.



Your parents probably did not realize what they were starting when they began to post your story and your life on the internet. They did not realize that, besides data and information, love flowed across the web, reaching people's homes who never even met you. Myself included. So much love, sweet girl, because of YOU.

So, today, right now, Baby A, some friends, and I are marching for you, Madeline. As Baby A said, you'll see the purple balloons.

Love, Alison

November 11, 2007 - April 7, 2009

This post was set to go up at 2:30 pm, the time that the services for Madeline start. This image, from Mrs. Schmitty, is up on blogs from all over right now, to honor Maddie.

I've Gone Purple for Maddie

My blog's gone purple to honor Madeline.



Her parents have requested everyone wear purple for the services on Tuesday. If you can't be there or didn't know of the Spohrs before now, please wear purple on Tuesday and let people know you are honoring the life of a brave, sweet little girl who is gone too soon. You can also mention the March of Dimes, an organization that works towards a day when all babies will be born healthy.

Have you donated yet? $1 or $100, whatever you can afford would be much appreciated. The economy is bad, but losing a child is so much worse. Please, support the Spohrs. You can click on the button on the right to donate via PayPal.

Love,
Alison