There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared
March 28, 2011 11:52 PM Subscribe
Twin baby boys have a conversation. Beside music & how-to videos, politics, and whathaveyou, YouTube is an excellent conduit for cute home movies about baby twins (and triplets). Here’s another interaction between twin siblings, here's some kissing, some dancing, some crying, some more laughing (here’s a clip with triplets). So much more inside – you can search for the rest yourself there
I can't get past the first link because my ovaries just exploded.
posted by Dr. Zira at 12:52 AM on March 29, 2011 [15 favorites]
posted by Dr. Zira at 12:52 AM on March 29, 2011 [15 favorites]
Such a great conversation. One word with many intonations.
I like the how to calm a baby one too.
posted by nickyskye at 1:40 AM on March 29, 2011 [9 favorites]
I like the how to calm a baby one too.
posted by nickyskye at 1:40 AM on March 29, 2011 [9 favorites]
Lots of twins in West Africa, sometimes this is seen as a good thing, sometimes not.
posted by asok at 1:59 AM on March 29, 2011
posted by asok at 1:59 AM on March 29, 2011
This post is not complete without the hilarious but disturbing laughing quadruplets.
posted by teraflop at 2:01 AM on March 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by teraflop at 2:01 AM on March 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
Every link in this post is like another plunge down the terror hole for me.
*CAN'T SLEEP. THE BABIES ARE PLOTTING AGAINST ME*
posted by KingEdRa at 2:32 AM on March 29, 2011
*CAN'T SLEEP. THE BABIES ARE PLOTTING AGAINST ME*
posted by KingEdRa at 2:32 AM on March 29, 2011
They kind of remind me of the aliens in mars attacks, it's pretty scary
posted by valdesm at 2:57 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by valdesm at 2:57 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Baby1: Glurge glurge glurge.
Baby2: Glurge glurge.
Baby1: (emphatically): Glurge glurge glurge glurge.
Baby2: Glurge!
posted by pompomtom at 3:34 AM on March 29, 2011
Baby2: Glurge glurge.
Baby1: (emphatically): Glurge glurge glurge glurge.
Baby2: Glurge!
posted by pompomtom at 3:34 AM on March 29, 2011
They kind of remind me of the aliens in mars attacks, it's pretty scary
They kind of remind me of ACTUAL CHILDREN in Ray Bradbury's "Zero Hour" Radio Play Version
posted by -->NMN.80.418 at 4:24 AM on March 29, 2011
They kind of remind me of ACTUAL CHILDREN in Ray Bradbury's "Zero Hour" Radio Play Version
posted by -->NMN.80.418 at 4:24 AM on March 29, 2011
I like how Talky Baby is just talking and talking, and sometimes Other Baby laughs hysterically, but other times, Other Baby draws the line, and he just puts up his hand like, "No way, buddy." I don't know what Talky Baby is on about, but Other Baby has his limits.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 4:41 AM on March 29, 2011 [37 favorites]
posted by Linda_Holmes at 4:41 AM on March 29, 2011 [37 favorites]
It could just be a very, very affirmative discussion in a Slavic language, (or possibly Romanian?)
posted by zaelic at 5:08 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by zaelic at 5:08 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
I wonder how much they're actually communicating. Pretty young babies can learn hand signs and stuff, so the arm movements may actually means something. I wonder.
posted by delmoi at 5:23 AM on March 29, 2011
posted by delmoi at 5:23 AM on March 29, 2011
I wonder how much they're actually communicating.
That's the weird part. I'm semi-serious about the fact that Other Baby doesn't react to what look like very similar da-da-da-da strings the same way every time, but he's clearly reacting. To my completely untrained eye, it seems like either there's something he's seeing that I'm not from Talky Baby, or he's mimicking the way adults react different ways -- yes, no, ha ha ha -- to each other in conversation, it seems like. And either is kind of neat.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 5:40 AM on March 29, 2011
That's the weird part. I'm semi-serious about the fact that Other Baby doesn't react to what look like very similar da-da-da-da strings the same way every time, but he's clearly reacting. To my completely untrained eye, it seems like either there's something he's seeing that I'm not from Talky Baby, or he's mimicking the way adults react different ways -- yes, no, ha ha ha -- to each other in conversation, it seems like. And either is kind of neat.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 5:40 AM on March 29, 2011
I have twin musical prodigies - this was right after their 1st birthday. Unfortunately, now at 2.5, their collaborative powers are more often used for evil than for good. Still cute, though.
posted by candyland at 5:43 AM on March 29, 2011 [8 favorites]
posted by candyland at 5:43 AM on March 29, 2011 [8 favorites]
One thing I like about this video there's plenty of variation, but essentially the same three line 'conversation' happens several times.
Talky Baby: Da da da da da da da da da da da da?
Stompy Baby: Da da da da da da! (Emphatic banging of invisible podium)
(Sometimes) Talky Baby: Da da da da da da!! (Vigorous arm waving)
I imagine it going something like this:
OKAY LISTEN RIGHT NOW IS THIS A GOOD IDEA I'M PROPOSING?
NO NO NO NO THIS IS ABSOULTELY BAD!
OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT THIS IS TERRIBLE!
The first baby is definitely using the question intonation to try elicit a response, and tries again when he doesn't get it. I don't know about content per se, but they are doing a great job practicing conversational turn taking :)
posted by heyforfour at 5:46 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Talky Baby: Da da da da da da da da da da da da?
Stompy Baby: Da da da da da da! (Emphatic banging of invisible podium)
(Sometimes) Talky Baby: Da da da da da da!! (Vigorous arm waving)
I imagine it going something like this:
OKAY LISTEN RIGHT NOW IS THIS A GOOD IDEA I'M PROPOSING?
NO NO NO NO THIS IS ABSOULTELY BAD!
OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT THIS IS TERRIBLE!
The first baby is definitely using the question intonation to try elicit a response, and tries again when he doesn't get it. I don't know about content per se, but they are doing a great job practicing conversational turn taking :)
posted by heyforfour at 5:46 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
THE BABIES ARE PLOTTING AGAINST ME
Never let down your guard; those babies are just waiting for the right moment to attack. Many have fallen to their surprise attacks. Norway has a monument to such a pitched battle.
posted by chambers at 5:46 AM on March 29, 2011
Never let down your guard; those babies are just waiting for the right moment to attack. Many have fallen to their surprise attacks. Norway has a monument to such a pitched battle.
posted by chambers at 5:46 AM on March 29, 2011
Stompy Baby: Da da da da da da! (Emphatic banging of invisible podium)
This is now making me think this is some viral promotional video for The Boys from Kalinovka, where baby clones of Nikita Khrushchev are raised to once again bang their shoes against thier desk in the UN General Assembly.
posted by chambers at 5:55 AM on March 29, 2011
This is now making me think this is some viral promotional video for The Boys from Kalinovka, where baby clones of Nikita Khrushchev are raised to once again bang their shoes against thier desk in the UN General Assembly.
posted by chambers at 5:55 AM on March 29, 2011
Other Baby's behavior resembles my own when I too am backed into a corner literally, having an unwanted conversation that I can't make heads or tails of.
"Haha, yeah..."
"Really? Wow..."
"Mmm, no I dunno about that..."
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:58 AM on March 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
"Haha, yeah..."
"Really? Wow..."
"Mmm, no I dunno about that..."
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:58 AM on March 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
I don't mean to pick on anything, and I know they're having a general conversation, but I must point out that in 1:08 the left one makes a point that is actually inaccurate. He makes it sound like exotic mesons have two valence quark-antiquark pairs, when in reality that refers to tetraquarks. Exotic mesons have quantum numbers not possible for mesons in quark model.
That is the best YouTube comment ever.
posted by biscotti at 6:00 AM on March 29, 2011 [21 favorites]
That is the best YouTube comment ever.
posted by biscotti at 6:00 AM on March 29, 2011 [21 favorites]
If you are fascinated by twins and/or tennis, have a look at this article on the super-talented Bryan Brothers.
posted by beisny at 6:03 AM on March 29, 2011
posted by beisny at 6:03 AM on March 29, 2011
Other Baby's behavior resembles my own when I too am backed into a corner literally
Agreed, Other Baby is definitely talking the crazy guy down until SWAT arrives.
posted by empyrean at 6:10 AM on March 29, 2011
Agreed, Other Baby is definitely talking the crazy guy down until SWAT arrives.
posted by empyrean at 6:10 AM on March 29, 2011
We've got identical 18 mo old girls who do versions of this. At the moment their conversations center around trading and negotiating deals for toys. One will approach the other with a toy she wants to trade, say "WATCHA WANT, WATCHA WATCHA WANT?!" Her sister will look up, consider the offer, and then thrust the requested object in her sister's face, replying "WATCHA WANT WATCHA WANT WATCHA WANT!" It's like living with two tiny souk hawkers.
.
posted by werkzeuger at 6:14 AM on March 29, 2011 [7 favorites]
.
posted by werkzeuger at 6:14 AM on March 29, 2011 [7 favorites]
Yeah, little children often learn prosody before they learn vocabulary / syntax / pronounciation. When you think about it, manipulating pitch and stress is easier than the complex actions required to produce most consonants, to say nothing about the memory-work required for vocabulary… In any case, it's interesting to see just how communicative prosody can be.
posted by LMGM at 6:47 AM on March 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by LMGM at 6:47 AM on March 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
It's like living with two tiny souk hawkers.
or the Beastie Boys.
posted by mykescipark at 6:56 AM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
or the Beastie Boys.
posted by mykescipark at 6:56 AM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
I sort of miss my twins doing this. Now it's all like...
"No bite. Sock mine. Go."
"Elephant."
"Papa work, basketball hoop?"
"No bite."
"Mama?"
"KITTY!" and then they chase the poor cat for five minutes.
posted by togdon at 7:59 AM on March 29, 2011 [9 favorites]
"No bite. Sock mine. Go."
"Elephant."
"Papa work, basketball hoop?"
"No bite."
"Mama?"
"KITTY!" and then they chase the poor cat for five minutes.
posted by togdon at 7:59 AM on March 29, 2011 [9 favorites]
Get a chimp to edit that video and it would look like two tiny sumo wrestlers facing off.
posted by Soliloquy at 8:00 AM on March 29, 2011
posted by Soliloquy at 8:00 AM on March 29, 2011
-And now we have to consider whether the insight into human nature is the only benefit derived from well-ordered potations, or whether there are not other advantages great and much to be desired. The argument seems to imply that there are. But how and in what way these are to be attained, will have to be considered attentively, or we may be entangled in error.
-Hee! Proceed.
-Let me once more recall our doctrine of right education; which, if I am not mistaken, depends on the due regulation of convivial intercourse.
- [Stomps foot demonstratively.] You talk rather grandly.
-Pleasure and pain I maintain to be the first perceptions of we children, and I say that they are the forms under which virtue and vice are originally present to us. As to wisdom and true and fixed opinions, happy is the man who acquires them, even when declining in years; and we may say that he who possesses them, and the blessings which are contained in them, is a perfect man.
-Ah hee!
-Now I mean by education that training which is given by suitable habits to the first instincts of our virtue;—when pleasure, and friendship, and pain, and hatred, are rightly implanted in souls not yet capable of understanding the nature of them, and who find them, after they have attained reason, to be in harmony with her. This harmony of the soul, taken as a whole, is virtue; but the particular training in respect of pleasure and pain, which leads you always to hate what you ought to hate, and love what you ought to love from the beginning of life to the end, may be separated off; and, in my view [waggles hand], will be rightly called education.
-[Not without a note of irritation.] I think, Brother, that you are right in all that you have said and are saying about education. Now—
-I am glad to hear that you agree with me; for, indeed, the discipline of pleasure and pain which, when rightly ordered, is a principle of education, has been often relaxed and corrupted in human life. And our Parents, pitying the toils which our generation is born to undergo, have appointed holidays, wherein we alternate rest with labor; and have given us Yo Gabba Gabba and the Wiggles, to be companions in our revels. I should like to know whether a common saying is in our opinion true to nature or not. For men say that the young of all creatures cannot be quiet in their bodies or in their voices; they are always wanting to move and cry out; some leaping and skipping, and overflowing with sportiveness and delight at something, others uttering all sorts of cries. But, whereas the animals have no perception of order or disorder in their movements, that is, of rhythm or harmony, as they are called, to us, the Parents, who, as we say, have been appointed to be our companions in the dance, have given the pleasurable sense of harmony and rhythm; and so they stir us into life, and we follow them, joining hands together in dances and songs; and the union of these we shall call χορός, which is a term naturally expressive of cheerfulness. Shall we begin, then, with the acknowledgment that education is first given through Yo Gabba Gabba and the Wiggles? What do you say?
-I assent.
-And the uneducated is he who has not been trained in the χορός, and the educated is he who has been well trained?
-Certainly.
-And the χορός is made up of two parts, dance and song?
-Kee hee hee! True.
-Then he who is well educated will be able to sing and dance well?
-I suppose that he will.
-Let us see; what are we saying?
- [Glances worriedly at camera.] What?
-He sings well and dances well; now must we add that he sings what is good and dances what is good?
-Let us make the addition. [Stomps.]
-We will suppose that he knows the good to be good, and the bad to be bad, and makes use of them accordingly: which now is the better trained in dancing and music—he who is able to move his body and to use his voice in what is understood to be the right manner, but has no delight in good or hatred of evil; or he who is incorrect in gesture and voice, but is right in his sense of pleasure and pain, and welcomes what is good, and is offended at what is evil?
-There is a great difference, Brother, in the two kinds of education. Also, I would like a juicebox.
posted by Your Disapproving Father at 8:09 AM on March 29, 2011 [15 favorites]
-Hee! Proceed.
-Let me once more recall our doctrine of right education; which, if I am not mistaken, depends on the due regulation of convivial intercourse.
- [Stomps foot demonstratively.] You talk rather grandly.
-Pleasure and pain I maintain to be the first perceptions of we children, and I say that they are the forms under which virtue and vice are originally present to us. As to wisdom and true and fixed opinions, happy is the man who acquires them, even when declining in years; and we may say that he who possesses them, and the blessings which are contained in them, is a perfect man.
-Ah hee!
-Now I mean by education that training which is given by suitable habits to the first instincts of our virtue;—when pleasure, and friendship, and pain, and hatred, are rightly implanted in souls not yet capable of understanding the nature of them, and who find them, after they have attained reason, to be in harmony with her. This harmony of the soul, taken as a whole, is virtue; but the particular training in respect of pleasure and pain, which leads you always to hate what you ought to hate, and love what you ought to love from the beginning of life to the end, may be separated off; and, in my view [waggles hand], will be rightly called education.
-[Not without a note of irritation.] I think, Brother, that you are right in all that you have said and are saying about education. Now—
-I am glad to hear that you agree with me; for, indeed, the discipline of pleasure and pain which, when rightly ordered, is a principle of education, has been often relaxed and corrupted in human life. And our Parents, pitying the toils which our generation is born to undergo, have appointed holidays, wherein we alternate rest with labor; and have given us Yo Gabba Gabba and the Wiggles, to be companions in our revels. I should like to know whether a common saying is in our opinion true to nature or not. For men say that the young of all creatures cannot be quiet in their bodies or in their voices; they are always wanting to move and cry out; some leaping and skipping, and overflowing with sportiveness and delight at something, others uttering all sorts of cries. But, whereas the animals have no perception of order or disorder in their movements, that is, of rhythm or harmony, as they are called, to us, the Parents, who, as we say, have been appointed to be our companions in the dance, have given the pleasurable sense of harmony and rhythm; and so they stir us into life, and we follow them, joining hands together in dances and songs; and the union of these we shall call χορός, which is a term naturally expressive of cheerfulness. Shall we begin, then, with the acknowledgment that education is first given through Yo Gabba Gabba and the Wiggles? What do you say?
-I assent.
-And the uneducated is he who has not been trained in the χορός, and the educated is he who has been well trained?
-Certainly.
-And the χορός is made up of two parts, dance and song?
-Kee hee hee! True.
-Then he who is well educated will be able to sing and dance well?
-I suppose that he will.
-Let us see; what are we saying?
- [Glances worriedly at camera.] What?
-He sings well and dances well; now must we add that he sings what is good and dances what is good?
-Let us make the addition. [Stomps.]
-We will suppose that he knows the good to be good, and the bad to be bad, and makes use of them accordingly: which now is the better trained in dancing and music—he who is able to move his body and to use his voice in what is understood to be the right manner, but has no delight in good or hatred of evil; or he who is incorrect in gesture and voice, but is right in his sense of pleasure and pain, and welcomes what is good, and is offended at what is evil?
-There is a great difference, Brother, in the two kinds of education. Also, I would like a juicebox.
posted by Your Disapproving Father at 8:09 AM on March 29, 2011 [15 favorites]
I have twin musical prodigies
This is like the opposite of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone.
posted by NoraReed at 8:10 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is like the opposite of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone.
posted by NoraReed at 8:10 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
We had a twin boy and girl last month. We absolutely cannot wait until they get out of their current larval stage and start doing cute stuff like this.
posted by zsazsa at 8:47 AM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by zsazsa at 8:47 AM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Watching the communication and social interaction between our twin girls (2.5 yrs) is fascinating.
They've been slower than average with speech and language (read: english), but between the two of them there's no problems whatsoever; they've been having full-on conversations for the longest time. We only wish we knew what they were saying.
posted by howling fantods at 9:58 AM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
They've been slower than average with speech and language (read: english), but between the two of them there's no problems whatsoever; they've been having full-on conversations for the longest time. We only wish we knew what they were saying.
posted by howling fantods at 9:58 AM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Other Baby is not giving up his remaining sock, no how, no way.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:18 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:18 AM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Egads! The cute! I need me some twins!
posted by dabitch at 3:43 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by dabitch at 3:43 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
"I will make the omelet. Shall I make the omelet?"
"No. You always burn the omelet. I will make it!"
"Are you saying I can't make the omelet? Is that what you're saying?"
"Heh!"
"So now what? You're better than me? Is that it?"
"Just stop what you're saying right now. You're embarrassing yourself."
"Oh, and you're not? Don't you see you have no clothes on?"
"Heh"
And so on...
posted by subgear at 8:06 PM on March 29, 2011
"No. You always burn the omelet. I will make it!"
"Are you saying I can't make the omelet? Is that what you're saying?"
"Heh!"
"So now what? You're better than me? Is that it?"
"Just stop what you're saying right now. You're embarrassing yourself."
"Oh, and you're not? Don't you see you have no clothes on?"
"Heh"
And so on...
posted by subgear at 8:06 PM on March 29, 2011
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" that's all I want to say to you.
posted by SPrintF at 9:25 PM on March 29, 2011
posted by SPrintF at 9:25 PM on March 29, 2011
This video makes me wanna have babies. Twins for that matter.
posted by PipnEstella at 12:57 AM on March 30, 2011
posted by PipnEstella at 12:57 AM on March 30, 2011
Parody: nsfw at the end: Two men have a conversation.
posted by nickyskye at 1:33 PM on April 9, 2011
posted by nickyskye at 1:33 PM on April 9, 2011
*oops, just noticed the last link was posted to the front page.
posted by nickyskye at 1:40 PM on April 9, 2011
posted by nickyskye at 1:40 PM on April 9, 2011
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posted by TwelveTwo at 11:57 PM on March 28, 2011