Twin Language

One of the things that always sounded cool to me about being a twin was the whole “twin language” thing. I think I first heard about it when I was a little kid on some science-y show like “3-2-1 Contact” or “Mr. Wizard” or something. It just seemed so freaking cool, the idea that some twin babies invent their own language that nobody but they can understand. I would imagine ways that my non-existent twin sibling and I could use our twin language to conspire against our parents or our teachers or our enemies. It all seemed pretty high on the stuff-that-would-be-cool scale, right up there with “being able to read people’s minds” or “being invisible” or "having the car from Knight Rider".

When I learned we were having twins, the idea of our girls speaking some secret twin language suddenly didn't seem quite so cool. Because if my girls are going be talking, I want to know what the heck they're saying. I want to hear them say "Hi Daddy!", not "Blork Bleep Blorp!" And I definitely don't want Leah and Riley conspiring against Bleep Blorp behind his back. That would suck.

Well, as of right now, if Leah and Riley have a secret twin language, it certainly is an odd one. Here's one fairly typical exchange that they had this morning.

Leah [sticking her tongue out at Riley and spitting]: Pbththththth!
Riley: Hee hee! [spitting back at Leah] Pbthththththth!
Leah: Hee hee! Pbthththththth!
Riley: Hee hee! Pbthth!

Yep, whatever this "pbthth" is, it seems to be the main topic of most of Leah and Riley's conversations. When Leah and Riley are talking to themselves, they're very expressive, using different intonations, making expressive hand gestures, making up these long multi-syllable words like "bazeebaguy" -- but when they're talking to each other, it seems to be all about the "pbthth".

So maybe twin language is some urban myth perpetuated by "3-2-1 Contact". Or maybe it's too early and twin language doesn't really develop until later in life. Or maybe Leah and Riley just happen to be one of those sets of twin sisters who won't need to have their own language. Either way, I guess it'll be okay with Bleep Blorp.