"I'm not a look-alike."
December 17, 2007 2:39 PM   Subscribe

 
I think unless you're willing to forgo the facial hair, face-blocking hairstyles and glasses, you can't really say you look alike.

Having said that, many of these people do look like siblings if not twins, and I think a more interesting question would be about the odds of *locating* a look-alike.


posted by davejay at 2:44 PM on December 17, 2007


I have seen virtual replicas of myself out in the world. When this happens, I just go home and listen to early Gary Numan.
posted by everichon at 2:50 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


Man, all white people pretty much look alike anyway, and many of these shots stretch the dopplegangers pretty thin.

I do know of two sets of folks who look enough alike that I always confused them, despite knowing at least one of the members of each pair well—my friend Ryan, who looked almost exactly like the guy who worked at the library's circ desk, and my pal Justin, who looked exactly like the guy at Big 10 Burrito (to the extent that other people frequently confused them when ordering, since Justin worked at Jerusalem Garden, a popular falafel spot).
posted by klangklangston at 2:50 PM on December 17, 2007


I assume that my counterparts do the same.
posted by everichon at 2:51 PM on December 17, 2007


Well, their shirts look alike.
posted by birdie birdington at 2:57 PM on December 17, 2007


Went on a few dates with a guy who thought I was my double. Lots of good stories about people confusing us for the other.
posted by idiotfactory at 2:58 PM on December 17, 2007


Once, while on campus, I saw myself - just 3 years younger, and without the facial hair and freshman 40. It was *really* weird - not only did he look like me, he moved like me as well. Looking at him walk was like being in It's a Wonderful Life. Sadly, I was too freaked out to talk to him.

Also, it was recently pointed out to me that my dad is a dead ringer for Mike Huckabee. I know this is wrong, but I'm a little disappointed in him for that.
posted by god hates math at 2:59 PM on December 17, 2007


I've long since decided there are probably only a couple hundred faces in the world and we keep seeing the same ones over and over. Maybe that's my delusion.
posted by CrazyJoel at 3:02 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


A friend of mine had two back to back LTRs with lookalikes. That was weird.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 3:16 PM on December 17, 2007


Also, it was recently pointed out to me that my dad is a dead ringer for Mike Huckabee. I know this is wrong, but I'm a little disappointed in him for that.
posted by god hates math at 2:59 PM on December 17 [+] [!]


Heh, my dad's a dead ringer for Noam Chomsky.
posted by Lucinda at 3:28 PM on December 17, 2007


I've been told I have a lookalike (I even know her name, and that she's a math teacher somewhere that a few of my friends know).
However, I get "wow, you look JUST LIKE my friend Jane Doe!" all the time. I'm never actually mistaken for Jane Doe. So I'm thinking we don't look as much alike as people say.

I met my ex/late husband's lookalike once, too. He was an almost exact double, to the point that I almost fainted when I passed him on the street.
posted by Kellydamnit at 3:28 PM on December 17, 2007


I walked into a quickie mart in Alpine, ID about ten years ago, and the clerk said, "Hi john." Except, that's my middle name, which I never go by. She apparently confused me for a friend of hers in Salt Lake City, and we apparently move and even talk alike.

She told me this in a sorta spooky manner, and it's always just confused the heck out of me.
posted by notsnot at 3:30 PM on December 17, 2007


I think it's more like all Québecois(e) look alike, since they're all descended from the same 12 or so families, with a bit of Iroquois or Cree mélangé.
posted by Flashman at 3:31 PM on December 17, 2007


Jackie Warner dates look-alikes.
posted by birdie birdington at 3:33 PM on December 17, 2007


I don't have a double so far as I know, but I do have an identical twin sister, and it really wreaks havoc on your sense of self. There is nothing so creepy as sitting in a passenger seat watching yourself drive.
posted by Marquise at 3:36 PM on December 17, 2007 [2 favorites]


I have a cousin in Germany that most of my family regards as being my lookalike.
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:41 PM on December 17, 2007


After reading the qualifications, we are related, but rather distantly, and obviously grew up in completely different countries speaking different languages. I have seen one or two pictures of her and we've never met. So even though we're related somehow, I don't think that really discounts the total stranger aspect.
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:44 PM on December 17, 2007


Once, while on campus, I saw myself - just 3 years younger, and without the facial hair and freshman 40. It was *really* weird - not only did he look like me, he moved like me as well. Looking at him walk was like being in It's a Wonderful Life. Sadly, I was too freaked out to talk to him.

I was in Chicago several years ago, in the middle of winter, at a Polkaholics show in the German-American Heritage Center in Lincoln Square. Just hanging out with a friend, probably one of very few not-Germans there.

About halfway through the set, I saw a kid -- couldn't have been more than 15, tops -- who looked like I did at that age, not just in face but in build, hairstyle, facial expressions, voice, and the way he moved/held himself/laughed. Everything except height, as he was significantly shorter than I was at that age. In fact, were it not for the height I would have had a time-traveler-meeting-his-younger-self movie moment.

As it was, it was creepy, and I'm at an age where he could have been my son (but just barely), and since I grew up and became sexually active in Chicago there is a small possibility that he *is* my son, albeit one I never knew I had; certainly all my girlfriends were a lot shorter than I was. He was having a good time with a couple of girls, and I couldn't bring myself to start up the conversation, and my friend refused to go over and drop a couple of "isn't your mom [x]?" questions.

I left without speaking to him, and as far as I know he never saw me (it was quite crowded) but I regret it with every fiber of my being, especially now that I have kids.
posted by davejay at 3:50 PM on December 17, 2007


Not exactly the same, but my dad found a picture of his paternal grandfather who lived on Beaver Island in Michigan and whom he never knew and it was the spitting image of him, I mean everything looked exactly the same. Or rather, because of the period details (Irish fisherfolk's Sunday best) and the sepia tone, it looked my dad took a picture at one of those "Old West" photo booths at an amusement park.
posted by Falconetti at 3:55 PM on December 17, 2007


This would be more interesting if they were of famous people, or at least people I know. I mean, how do I know they aren't siblings?
posted by DU at 4:11 PM on December 17, 2007


Caroline Dhavernas looks nothing at all like her look-alike to me.

My father used to get stopped in public places because people thought he was this guy. Yea, this was during the 80's heyday of the 49'ers.
posted by basicchannel at 4:13 PM on December 17, 2007


I think a more interesting question would be about the odds of *locating* a look-alike.

The odds of locating a look-alike are a lot better than the odds of locating your look-alike. See the birthday problem. Now the base odds I still don't know.
posted by grouse at 4:24 PM on December 17, 2007


Reminds me a bit of this
I think you can convince yourself you look like anyone. (I really look like some really handsome soccer player apparently ...what?)
Siblings, yeah. But I mean there’s billions of people on the planet, odds are some folks are going to share some features with you.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:34 PM on December 17, 2007


Heh, my dad's a dead ringer for Noam Chomsky.

Our dads would TOTALLY HATE EACH OTHER!

My father used to get stopped in public places because people thought he was this guy. Yea, this was during the 80's heyday of the 49'ers.

Which reminded me - my brother's Father-in-Law looks just like Andy Reid. It doesn't help that he lives in Philly - he's also been stopped, and apparently really upset a young kid because he wouldn't sign his autograph.
posted by god hates math at 5:00 PM on December 17, 2007


My dad is a dead ringer for Paul McCartney. My mother is Japanese and together they always drew very confused looks from teh Caucasians who thought she might be Yoko.
posted by Jenafeef at 5:06 PM on December 17, 2007


During college, working at a movie theater, a girl came up to buy a ticket who looked just like me...only a girl. She could've been my twin. We both stared at each other for a moment, as well as her girlfriends, and the moment passed, she took her ticket, went inside, and I never saw her again.

Interestingly, I think this phenomenon bypasses both sex and race. Recently I met a Japanese man who is the spitting image of Dustin Hoffman. Y'know how two people can look alike but when one smiles, it's totally different? This guy even smiled exactly like Dustin Hoffman. I couldn't help but point that out to him and he laughed and said, yeah, he gets that from everybody he meets. I found myself unable to really talk to him because it felt like I was actually talking to Dustin Hoffman and I was a bit starstruck.
posted by zardoz at 5:07 PM on December 17, 2007


I am constantly told that I bear an uncanny resemblance to Jon Stewart. I guess that blows any chance of me getting my own show on Comedy Central.
posted by JaredSeth at 5:24 PM on December 17, 2007


Isn't this a double?
posted by shakespeherian at 5:36 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


Leelee Sobieski looks a lot like a teenage Helen Hunt.
posted by Devils Slide at 5:48 PM on December 17, 2007


I am a dead ringer for Oliver Platt. I wish that made me really hot, but...
posted by maxwelton at 6:00 PM on December 17, 2007




I am so glad Nicole Kidman got her lips done, because I was so frightfully weary of people approaching me all the time.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 6:11 PM on December 17, 2007


When I was at school, I used to get random classmates come up to me and tell me they spotted me at the school hostel (I was a day student) or at some random mamak stall or somewhere. There was a junior who apparently was supposed to be my lookalike, but I think that's mainly because we were both dark-skinned and looked very Indian (well, I am South Asian...).

Many years ago I was at Savage Garden's website and they had just recently updated their layout. One page had a picture of the audience at their concert somewhere, and one of the attendees looked EXACTLY like me. If it wasn't for the fact that I had never been to a large-scale Savage Garden concert, I could have sworn it was me.

I've always believed I had a twin that was missing somewhere. Maybe I absorbed her in-utero, or she got adopted somewhere, or something. I've pestered my mum with dozens of "do I have a twin?" questions and she always tell me "no, I'd remember if I gave birth to twins!!" Yet I still feel like I'm missing someone, like there is a twin for me that I haven't met.

My best friend and I don't look much like each other; however, there has been too many strange coincidences in events and personalities that sometimes I wonder if she's me from the future!
posted by divabat at 6:42 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


The Matrix has you ...
posted by bwg at 6:59 PM on December 17, 2007


They all look like they are about to have sex with each other.
posted by Sukiari at 7:28 PM on December 17, 2007


I have such terrible facial recognition ability that I really doubt that I'd even notice if I met my double. I'm so bad that I'm often surprised when I see myself in the mirror or in a picture. I catch myself thinking, "Oh yea, that's me."
posted by octothorpe at 8:59 PM on December 17, 2007


There was a guy at my college who looked enough like me that in a yearbook, there was a picture of me in the candid shots section, and it got captioned has him. But that guy wasn't nearly as close as my roommate's doppleganger, who was not only very similar looking, but also very tall. When that guy grew a beard, my roommate grew one to continue the confusion.
posted by bendybendy at 9:18 PM on December 17, 2007


All this will be taken care of once Scotty fixes the transporter.
posted by Tube at 9:37 PM on December 17, 2007


I'm not about to play with any transponder, and when I met my double, I simply felt sorry for the guy.
posted by scottymac at 10:18 PM on December 17, 2007


zardoz: I find this bypasses "race" too. I've known people of completely different skin colours who look, move, talk and behave almost exactly like each other. And I'm not exactly well-travelled.
posted by Ira.metafilter at 10:27 PM on December 17, 2007


Back in 2000, I walked into a bar in Vienna and was bought a drink because of my resemblance to Moritz Daffinger.

Nothing was more bizarre, though, than a doppelganger I spotted in Japan, in a Sega World game center. I was with my friend Tom at the time, and the important thing to remember is that Tom is a weird-looking dude. He's got albinism, so he's got really pale skin and ash-blond hair, and he's scrawny and kind of rodent-like. Suffice it to say he looks quite unlike most Caucasians, and absolutely nothing like most people you would see in Japan.

So there we were, walking through Sega World, when I stopped dead in my tracks. My jaw dropped, and I exclaimed, "Oh my god!"

Tom said, "What is it?"

I pointed across the room. "It's you!"

We didn't approach the doppelganger, because we like the fabric of the space-time continuum just the way it is, thank you very much.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:18 AM on December 18, 2007 [1 favorite]


For me, it's the author David Brin. Dead on. Well, at least in that picture at the head of his own web site.
posted by cptnrandy at 7:46 AM on December 18, 2007


I have a look-a-like. When I finally meet him, I'm going to punch him in the nose. Then all the comments, "Oh, you're back, already? Back again? etc...etc" will finally cease and I will have peace in my life and travels.
posted by Atreides at 10:16 AM on December 18, 2007


I've been mistaken for many, many people's friends or cousins. Or friend's cousin.

Being adopted and living in the city I was born in means I could very well have a sibling or cousin out there that these people are mistaking me for.

The incidents range from "Whoa, you look just like..." to flat out "Hey man! How you doing? How's blah blah blah... OH WAIT! I'm sorry. You look just like..."

One of these days maybe I should quiz the person and figure out where my doppleganger lives, if only to add his life force to my own.
posted by utsutsu at 10:18 AM on December 18, 2007


My dad looks exactly like Borat, for better or for worse. People stop him on the street all the time.

I've never met anyone who looked like me, and no one's ever mistaken me for anyone (because I'm a special snowflake).
The one time I saw someone who looked like me was a young girl in some Holocaust footage in Hebrew school. I was especially upset by the fact that I would never meet her.
posted by rmless at 11:11 AM on December 18, 2007


Back in Chicago there was a set of coworkers who marveled at how much I looked like Chris Farley.

No, I've never been that heavy, thank God. But that's exactly why it drove me crazy. And it was supposed to be affectionate, but I hated being asked to "do" Farley impressions.

There is nothing so creepy as sitting in a passenger seat watching yourself drive.

To be fair, I think parents experience this sort of thing too. I know for myself, I have always (since adolescence) sounded exactly like my father on the phone; only my mother and brother can tell us apart. And my brother and I are very different and over 4 years apart but people have sometimes thought we were twins.
posted by dhartung at 1:22 PM on December 18, 2007


When my hair was really long people would tell me all the time that I looked just like someone they knew. I cut it short two years ago and the recognitions stopped. Must have been the hair.
posted by obol at 3:14 PM on December 18, 2007


I had an evil doppleganger a few years ago who I never met - I was constantly being refused service at pubs because evil twin had wreaked havoc there. I think it was an evil twin anyway.
posted by zemblamatic at 6:27 AM on December 19, 2007


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