From the time I was knowingly pregnant with twins (because I do remember those weeks when I didn’t know there were two in there!), someone had something to say about it. To this day, I still encounter a steady flow of inquiries. Strangers ask whether twins run in my family (which is often the indirect way of ascertaining whether I did fertility treatments). Mom-friends ask whether I delivered them naturally.  And family members ask which child is the easier one. (And for the record, the answers are:  yes-if-cousins-count, I delivered them vaginally with the kind assistance of an epidural, and they’re both challenging — I mean easy).

And it’s not just moms of twins and triplets who have to think of diplomatic responses to bothersome questions — or who choose to forego diplomacy for humor, as this mom from Australia did. Twins and triplets themselves have to field similarly annoying queries.

From my interviews with adult twins and triplets, this is what I’ve gathered are the top seven questions multiples hate to be asked (and the reactions they quietly have in their heads):

1.“Can you read each other’s minds?”

Uh, we’re twins, not psychics.

2. “What’s it like to be a triplet?”

I don’t know what it’s like to not be a triplet so I’m not sure how to answer this.

3. “Are you each other’s best friend?”

That’s kind of awkward to answer — do you see my sibling standing right there?

4. “Is it hard to have to always share the spotlight with each other?”

Wait, you’re saying that I’m not the center of attention??

5. “Do you love being a twin?”

Well, I love my twin sibling and I don’t wish that she ceased to exist so I guess the answer is ‘yes’?

6. “Do you hate being a triplet?”

That’s the same as asking if I hate my siblings. Why would you ask that?

7. “Who’s the dominant one?”

Do you think we’re in a BDSM relationship? ‘Cause that’s not really our thing.

If you’re a mom of multiples or a multiple yourself, email me questions that you hate to hear — bonus points (and a possible feature in a future blog post) for the funniest responses you’ve actually said! 🙂