A brother and a sister, for better or for worse

[venta]

On Saturday night, ChrisC and I were strolling across the North Circular on the way to the cinema. Not that we were a danger to traffic, we used a pelican crossing and everything. As a car which had stopped at the lights pulled away, the passenger wound down the window, leaned out and yelled at us "Are you two twins?"

Now, I can understand the question. Superficially, we look quite similar: similar height, similar hair-colour, and we both have long hair[*]. We have - occasionally - been mistaken for each other by people who know us well (though admittedly at a distance, or in photographs, and not recently).

What baffled me was that the shouter clearly intended it to be a cutting and deadly insult. As it was, it left us both faintly amused with a side order of "eh?"

Of course, it is possible that our fashionably-tousled teenager has embarked on a policy of yelling weird things out of windows with the aim of causing confusion and cognitive dissonance all over London (I'd certainly find that much more fun than hurling abuse at people).

[*] We also wear nearly-identical, independently-chosen glasses. Though mine were in my bag at the time, rather than on my face, so not directly relevant. On the rare occasions I leave mine lying around somewhere in our flat, whole seconds of hilarity ensue.

What's the strangest thing anyone's ever shouted at you?

Comments

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

"Lezzers!" Shouted at female me and male quantumboo.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

What are lezzers anyway? Does anyone really know? ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Are they related to Rozzers?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do know a few straight-but-long-haired couples that's happened to.

ChrisC and I have only encountered the polite alternative, where someone in a restaurant says "So, ladies, are you ready to or... Oops."

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I get the opposite - the very nice waitress in Pizza Hut kept calling me 'sir' a couple of weeks ago. From the back it was excusable, but then she did it from the front too, and by then I felt it was a bit late to correct her. And sometimes people get very indignant when I go into the Ladies'.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I have occasionally been mistaken for a bloke, too, and I don't even have the hair excuse. I'm very surprised that someone close enough to take your order (and face on) could possibly mistake you for a chap.

However, having nearly made a crashing misidentifying-gender blunder a few weeks ago, I suspect that avoiding dangerous words like "sir" or "madam" is the way to go.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I remember a Big Issue seller who was accosting every passer-by with "Big Issue, sir? Big Issue, madam?" When I walked past it was "Big Issue, mate?"

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes. It only really works if you avoid genered words consistently! Otherwise you might as well say "Big Issue, person-of-dubious-gender?"

:)

[rosenkavalier.livejournal.com]

> ChrisC and I have only encountered the polite alternative

I also seem to get that quite a lot... (Mind you, I've been accused of being a lesbian in the past as well...)

[lnr]

Oh I should have read all the comments before adding my own - Mike and I have had this too. It doesn't help that he's long-haired and also very slight and quite short.