Have You Ever Met Your Look-alike?
by Scientists claimed that everyone has a double or look-alike living in other parts of the world. You just have not met them yet. I think the scientists are just half right though. I personally have met two of my look-alike in my own country (Singapore is an island by the way). The last time I checked, my mum told me that I do not have twin brother. So is this a common phenomena or did God just simply created extra copies of me from the same mould?
Somewhere in 1910, there was Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest and the real Charlie Chaplin took part in that contest. Guess what? He did not even make it to the finals.
Image via Wikipedia
First Meeting
In 1990 was the first time I met my look-alike. It was an orientation camp for freshmen. The first time I saw my look-alike, I muttered to myself,”This guy really looks like me”. When we introduced ourselves to each other, he was the one who brought up the matter about our uncanny resemblance to each other. We then joked about it and got along very well. We even played pranks on others by claiming that we were twins.The best part about it was that everyone believed us.
After that camp I never met my look-alike again. He went to an engineering school and I switched from engineering to join a design school. We did exchange contact numbers but I lost my phone book(yes, no mobile phones yet) several weeks after that.
It was a decade later that I met another look-alike of myself for a second time.
Image via Wikipedia
Second Meeting
In the second meeting, I was helping out a friend doing a video shoot inside a public restroom which was located in a market. As we were setting up video equipment inside, some men were still using the restroom. Then out of nowhere, a guy wearing a white T-shirt and khaki colored pants walked in. I was standing along the corridor in front of a row of cubicles, setting up a tripod at that time and failed to notice his entrance.
It was my friend Roy, who noticed our uncanny resemblance to each other. Roy then jokingly shouted out aloud from the other end of the corridor,” Sharif, your brother!” My look-alike at that moment was standing at the washbasin with his back facing me.
I looked up and caught a glimpse of my look-alike smiling through the reflection of the washbasin mirror. That really caught me by surprise and I was dazed for a few seconds. He then turned around to face me, still smiling. He paused for a few seconds to take a better look at me. I smiled back and managed to have a better look at him as well. He was slightly stockier but his facial features was just all too familiar to me. It was as if I was looking at myself in the mirror.
After that brief moment, he just turned towards the exit and walked off but still smiling(probably still processing in his head what he had just witnessed). I remember that smile of his vividly right till he walked out the door. I just simply recognise my own smile. Of course Roy and me burst into a laughter right after that. It was an awkward moment but an eventful day no doubt.
So do I have one of the most common faces in this world? Highly plausible. Are scientists always right? Not every time. There were two incidents after that day when someone had mistakenly identified me for someone else. By then, I was no longer surprised anymore. I just simply said to myself,” My look-alike must be at work again”.
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Post CommentJoie Schmidt
On December 12, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Very unique article.
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
Katien
On December 12, 2009 at 7:10 pm
It must be very odd to find yourself facing your lookalike! I have been mistaken for someone a few times who happens to be a doctor. Several people told me that they’d seen me in a town nearby, and then a man came up to me and told me that his bowel problem was much improved – that’s how I found out my lookalike was a doctor!
Craigz
On December 12, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Excellent article. I wonder if someone out there may look similar to myself. I must say I have come across people who I have seen who appear to be someone I have met before and then turned out they were not…so yes, it seems they (scientists) may well be onto something. Interesting article.
Videomark
On December 12, 2009 at 9:33 pm
I have never met my look-alike. That would be strange indeed.
Starpisces
On December 12, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Hey Sharif, very interesting topic and very well written! Share with you again here…Many years ago, there was a woman from my workplace (but different department), whenever I met her in the washroom, she will say “you really look like my sister”, repeated few times till one day I told her “please bring your sister’s photograph and show me”, guess what she answered me? “By the way, she has passed away”…
Ruby Hawk
On December 12, 2009 at 10:30 pm
That’s amazing. I have never met my look alike but a friend told me she did meet someone who she thought was me.
Val Mills
On December 13, 2009 at 12:13 am
An interesting article. I haven’t met one in real life, but I own an old postcard from the early 1900’s that I keep looking at, quite convinced I must have had a previous life. What makes it more uncanny is that in my younger days I was a swimmer, and the young woman in the postcard is in a swim suit.
LoveDoctorLoveGoodBye
On December 13, 2009 at 2:26 am
Wow! That is amazing. I’ve always wondered about this phenomenon. I have been told that I look like this and that. But I hate when people tell me that I look like this person. lol
Pinaki Ghosh
On December 13, 2009 at 5:37 am
very interesting post. Thanks
qasimdharamsy
On December 13, 2009 at 7:53 am
Good Article !!!
Frances Lawrence
On December 13, 2009 at 8:40 am
A very interesting article. I hope my husband doesn’t have a double, one of him is quite enough to cope with!
Borneon
On December 13, 2009 at 9:08 am
Yes, this is oddly true. As they say, there is one person that look just like us in this world. Interesting article.
abhishek40914
On December 13, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Interesting article
Will Gray
On December 13, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Great article! Some years ago, I was walking out of a store when another man was walking in. We looked exactly alike. We passed on by each other, saying nothing. Perhaps it was just too weird. Looking back, I wish I would have talked to him. A doppleganger?
Ebedeley
On December 13, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I haven’t met my look-alike, not yet…
Authoress Terry E. Lyle
On December 13, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I’ve never my look-a-like, but I would love too. It would be like having a twin.
Authoress Terry E. Lyle
On December 13, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I never met my look-a-like but the fun we could have would be real amusing.
cutedrishti8
On December 14, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I never met but in my childhood I saw a Ad in TV a boy look likes me..
Citra Florenca
On December 15, 2009 at 12:27 am
Great, interesting and unique article! I haven’t yet meet my look alike. But I do hope I will soon.
mkd1788
On December 15, 2009 at 1:14 am
interesting post…good work
AlmaG
On December 15, 2009 at 5:48 am
That was very interesting! my friend told me a few weeks ago that he met a japanese girl who looks exactly like me and he said it was incredible and can’t believe it.
PhoenixRox
On December 16, 2009 at 1:48 pm
This is very interesting. I have not met my look alike, but have been told that there are a few.LOL. I don’t like the feeling. ha
8Shei8
On December 16, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I have not met my look a like either but strangers come up to me and say I know you
Michael Eboh
On December 17, 2009 at 8:17 am
I have thought of that severally. A certain time, I saw in the newspaper someone just like me but there is no way two different people could be the same and not even twins. Thanks for the lovely share!
diamondpoet
On December 18, 2009 at 5:34 am
Good story, we all resemble someone else but to actually meet that person well you used the words perfectly, uncanny.
obiray
On December 18, 2009 at 8:15 am
That’s cool. i hope to meet my look alike someday.
lillyrose
On December 21, 2009 at 10:40 am
great read! I do believe there is somebody for everyone to look alike, not met mine yet but there is still time!
1niknik2008
On December 22, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Great article!
fashion girl
On December 26, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I always wonder where my look alike is right now
standingproud
On December 26, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Yes they do say we all have a look`a`like.
Where is mine I want to see.
thuanynguyen
On December 28, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Great article, very unique. I havnt met my look-alike yet.
athena goodlight
On December 28, 2009 at 9:32 pm
My friends have their differing opinions of my look-alikes. I ofter disagree with them.
Purnomosidhi
On December 29, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Interesting Sharif!
SharifaMcFarlane
On January 3, 2010 at 3:01 am
I hope my lookalike is behaving!
LOVELYHONEY
On January 6, 2010 at 4:09 am
i am convinced during the course of my study of the human mind
that at least TWO PERSONS think similarly all the time
one makes it
the other hopes only
Mila Marcos
On January 12, 2010 at 1:19 pm
This is the kind of article I enjoy reading – people all over the world have been mistaken for someone else or crossed paths with someone who looks like their long lost ‘twin’. How bizarre – the other day, someone tapped me on the shoulder and swore they knew me LOL I didn’t know them! Haven’t bumped into my identical twin yet:)
Francois Hagnere
On January 12, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Very well crafted article. I really enjoyed your work. I haven’t met my look alike yet but a friend did, that was in Biarritz and you won’t believe it this dear friend saw his look alike in Paris.
It’s extraordinary. Great post Sharif. Thank you.
deep blue
On January 15, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Very well told my friend. I had once a look alike I knew only when my high school classmate brought her husband at our reunion . By then I realize that classmate of mine used to have a crush on me but it was too late.
S A JOHNSON
On January 23, 2010 at 2:45 pm
I haven’t but there’s someone in the nearest city who does look like me, or I look like them apparently because someone always say, “Oh I saw you here…” I’m like, “No, that wasn’t me.” It’s always at places that I go to but never when I’m there.
I found this old black and white and in the picture is a bunch of people and one of them looks and dresses with the same style as my mom but in the picture that person was an adult and was taken before my mom was born…What’s even more amusing is that no one even remembers that person and claims that person is in no way related to us.
Oh also, my brother told me that people used to believe that if you met your look a like one of you will die or something like that…
Anyway, cool article.
Sharif Ishnin
On January 24, 2010 at 10:59 pm
@ SA Johnson- The story about the belief you mentioned is about meeting a doppleganger. That’s one Western superstition that I find interesting and amusing.
zoeyclark
On March 5, 2010 at 9:54 am
The Charlie Chaplin story is just sooo hilarious. And I can’t believe you met two people who looked like you! I never met mine, but I am guessing it is because I am from Turkey but I am much taller and blonder and whiter than most here and people often mistake me for an Eastern European or a Scandinavian…
Andy W
On March 30, 2010 at 1:57 am
During The years 1978 to 1995 , I was very keen on marrying my nextdoor neighbour named Sandra on Australias’ Gold Coast . In the year 1995 I moved to Ballarat because The Gold Coast home was being eaten away by termites . In the year 2007 while doing volentary work at RSPCA of Ballarat I was well and truly smitten , when meeting Sandras’ look alike named Elli from Grenzach-Wyhlen in South West Germany ……. When I told Elli that she looks exactly like Sandra she was …… absolutely shocked .
RAJEEV BHARGAVA
On September 11, 2010 at 3:32 pm
i really enjoyed reading this article. it\\\’s one of those subjects that always promise to interest. i share the same views as you and believe that people may bear some similar traits, but nobody is exactly identical, and this includes twins too. it would be nice though to meet someone like us, so we don\\\’t always have to rely on the mirror everytime we go out. thanks for sharing.
RAJEEV BHARGAVA
On September 11, 2010 at 3:33 pm
i really enjoyed reading this article. it\\\\\\\’s one of those subjects that always promise to interest. i share the same views as you and believe that people may bear some similar traits, but nobody is exactly identical, and this includes twins too. it would be nice though to meet someone like us, so we don\\\\\\\’t always have to rely on the mirror everytime we go out. thanks for sharing.
Brewed Coffee
On January 4, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Some people would say they know someone who looks just like me. I have yet to see those look alikes to see if they do look like me or I look like them, or whatever. It would have been a fun thing
I’m sure I wouldn’t have a look alike in the West.
Dave
On January 27, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Ive been going to school with this guy for 5 years and sometimes teachers get us mixed up but no one else ever noticed until the other day when we were standing next to each other. Now everyone says its uncanny how much we look alike.. Funny how it took 5 years for anyone to notice…. Maybe its because we’ve changed a lot in those 5 years…
Then there’s another guy a year younger than me and we look kinda alike too. My dad even thought I got into the wrong car after school one day when that guy got into his moms car