Have you ever been mistaken for somebody else?
By rosdimy
@rosdimy (3926)
Malaysia
November 26, 2008 7:17pm CST
When I was growing up I was told that there are six other persons in the world who are similar to us in appearance. So far I have encountered two cases of being mistaken for someone else and one case of being informed that someone else looked exactly like me and dressed the same way. In the first case of mistaken identity a girl called me by a name similar to mine, which is Rosli. She refused to believe I was not Rosli. I walked away and she repeatedly called me until I was out of hearing. The second case occurred three years ago. I was reading a newspaper by the roadside when an older person came over and greeted me. He asked me several questions regarding my parents. Then he kept quiet for a few minutes. When he spoke he apologised for mistaking me for another person. He said the way we dressed,speak, and general mannerism were almost the same.
Did something similar happened to you? What was your reaction? What was the other person's reaction when he/she realised the truth? What was the outcome?
rosdimy
2 people like this
13 responses
@thanujad (405)
• Sri Lanka
27 Nov 08
My elder sister and I look more alike even though we are not twins. When we were in school, teachers did not know whether it was me or my sister. So we had fun at that time. Now that we both have kids and when I go near the school to pick the kids, I meet my sister's classmates and most of them come and talk to me thinking that I'm the sister. For some I don't even bother to say that I'm not her and just pretend to be my sister. Ha ha Being mistaken for somebody else is fun in a way!
@aisaellis22 (6445)
• United States
28 Nov 08
Yes I was. There was one transferee in our school. She's my classmate. The first time she saw me she really stare at me. I don't know why. We never had a chance to talk then. But for a couple of months, we've been friends then and I asked her why she frequently looked at me and she told me that she reminds me of her bestfriend in her place. We almost look alike and we have the same features. I really can't believe it.
@garmac (57)
• Jamaica
27 Nov 08
well i've not really been mistaken for someone else as in coming up to me on the street and calling by another name but i have met people who told me they are sure they saw me at 'X' place before. i met a girl over the internet and when i sent her a photo she kept asking if i was playing a trick on her then she told me there is a guy in her community who looked exactly like me. i was even told by my cousins that they went out and saw this guy doing stunts on a bicycle and swore it was me but the only reason they were sure it not me was because i wasn't very good at riding. i have heard of about 1 more so that means there are 2 more of us out there. there is a term for it "doppleganger" or somthing like that. and i always thought God broke the mold when he made me.Ha hA HA
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
28 Nov 08
As far as I know a doppleganger is an evil 'twin'. Maybe he is a doppleganger but on second thoughts you could be the one. No, I was only joking. So there are two more like you. So if what my elders told me is correct, then expect another four. Would not it be fun if it is true and all seven meets at one place?
Thank you for your response.
@carmelsuarez (329)
• Philippines
27 Nov 08
A lot of times though. people thought that I am someone I'm not and others are so insistent that I am taht person. It's annoying I admit but I just shrug it off knowing that because of so much people in the world there are a lot of look alikes.
I dont blame them... because I myself have mistakenly thought that this someone was my long lost friend but actually not and very different person.
I just hope I wont be mistakenly of someone who breaks in prison or a wanted criminal. I dont care if they would thought I have aids or something they would not like to get close to me because I can still take rather tahn policemen are all over me.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
28 Nov 08
Being accused of something we never did, because the perpetrator looks exactly like us, is a scenario which occasionally crossed my mind. I guess we should be looking at the positive side of things instead of reacting negatively to something which has not happened yet.
Thank you for your response.
@employmentdep (126)
• United States
27 Nov 08
Good Morning.
Well,this topic called my attention because i have listened too many times about it, first that all, at least three or four persons in my life have told me that i am very similar in appereance to other man of my age, someone questionned me once if a had studied in a school different from mine because she had had a very similar camarade of her.
In another occasion, i was in a disco with some of my friends when a guy get closed to me and say hi, he was calling me by another name, a kind of nickname like "rolo", and this man didn't have a good look, i mean he looked like a bad man, i was very scared because i guess he was confusing me with a man that maybe could be a similar kind of person, do you understand?, what i want to say is: what if that person who is confusing you is some kind of enemy of the other person that he or she is thinking you are???
what a problem, isn't it?...
Rubén.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
28 Nov 08
It would be a problem if the person who looks exactly like us had done something bad, or involved in unsavoury activities. There was a case reported in local newspapers in my country of a man killed by a group of people over mistaken identity. Let us hope the same thing would not happen to anyone else.
Thank you for your response.
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
27 Nov 08
Yes, it's happened a few times. Before it was at the university. These guys thought I was someone else. I guess my hair & dress style is very similar to the other person. They kept on yelling this guys name & then when they got up close to me they saw I wasn't him & they apologized to me. HEHEHEHE 
Another time I was walking down the street & someone stopped me, they thought I was someone else, well it wasn't me and she apologized. I didn't get any situation like yours where they wouldn't stop it or believe I was the wrong person.
I've done that before with people. However I never say it aloud to them. I just think to myself they look very similar to "such and such". It's kind of awkward to do that, right?
Another time I was walking down the street & someone stopped me, they thought I was someone else, well it wasn't me and she apologized. I didn't get any situation like yours where they wouldn't stop it or believe I was the wrong person.
I've done that before with people. However I never say it aloud to them. I just think to myself they look very similar to "such and such". It's kind of awkward to do that, right?@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
27 Nov 08
Yes, it is kind of awkward when we see someone who is (almost) identical to someone else whom we knew. Once I saw a friend whom I had not met for more than 10 years. We were walking towards each other. I was not sure it was him because he was already balding at the top of his head. To avoid the awkwardness of mistaken identity, I said aloud his name when we were passing each other. It was him.
Thank you for your response.
@anne12d (676)
• Philippines
27 Nov 08
I was and repeated for a couple of times already. It all happened at work, my batchmate on training and now we are on our contractual. A supervisor ask me something and I was puzzled what to answer her then she realized I wasn't the one she thought she's asking then she just said it that she thought I was Sab, my co-staff and a friend. Again by a co-staff the same thing, she called me Sab but I never turned around then she laugh hard and told me that Sab and I have resemblance and I told her that our supervisor mistakenly thought I'm Sab too. So I ask Sab and I batchmates on training and now a contractual aswell that are we really had a resemblance? And she said YES!
@Shinersma123 (32)
• Canada
27 Nov 08
When I was growing up there was a girl, about my age, that had the same colour hair and wore it the same way. She was the same build, carried herself the same way and had the same taste in clothes. Alot of people said we looked alike, but when I saw her up close our facial features, although similar in a way, made it easy to tell us apart. This similarity, however, almost broke the man I married and I up. She drove past him in My taste in clothes and hairstyle with another guy in his car when I was at work. He was upset about it and questioned me on it, but it was not hard to prove I really was at work.
She was killed in a car accident a few months later and one of the pallbearers mentioned was an ex-boyfriend of mine. I always wondered what other similarities we may have shared if she lived in the same part of town as me or we may have met more then just in passing.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
27 Nov 08
Maybe you would have found many other similarities if you had the chance to know her. In my early years of marriage, I met my spouse's double. She looked exactly the same as my spouse, including the type and colour of clothes she was. Luckily I met her a few minutes after the bus that carried my spouse moved away. Otherwise I do not know what my reaction would have been.
Thank you for your response.
@jordan04n (463)
• United States
27 Nov 08
Yes, it is the strangest feeling like maybe I should be or know that person and the person asking doesn't believe me. I often think I have a twin out there somewhere. Once I asked my mom about a twin and she refused to talk about it. Now that she is gone I really do wonder if ther was one and there is a deep dark secret.
@Nhey16 (2518)
• Philippines
27 Nov 08
oh yeah, it did happen to me, when i was still in high school, i have a friend which is one batch lower than us. My classmates and I were out, and then I heard 2 boys calling the name of my friend and when I turned to look at them, they were my friend's classmates and they were waving their hands at me while calling my friend's name :). Since they were in the jeepney, I waved and smiled at them. Then my classmates asked me if I personally knew the 2 boys, I said "no"... :)
@ronnyb (6113)
• Jamaica
27 Nov 08
You sure that girl didnt know you lol ,just joking .I have had almost tow cases of mistaken identity ,once I was in a bus going home when someone walked up to the window and was about to playfully slap me in the back when they realized their error and apologized.Geez you look almost like the person he said.I was extremely grateful he realised early ,maybe I would be still be feeling the pain if he hadnt.
Another time I was in a bus again seems like these things are always happening in a bus and a woman asked me are you an hatian to which I replied no.I am always been asked that.This is another form of mistaken identity except that I am being mistaken for another race lol .
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
27 Nov 08
Ha ha. Maybe I should have taken advantage of the situation. It could have been fun to see what happened after that. Well, it is just a thought, because in reality I am usually afraid of getting close to a girl/woman. Two cases of mistaken identity and I bet you would experience it again.
Thank you for your response.
@jedimind (200)
• Singapore
27 Nov 08
i don't know if i can qualify to answer this question because... i have an identical twin :) yup, so people constantly mix us up. Like we both attended the same school but different courses, and people would constantly come up to me and say, "hi, are you (my brother's name)". then i would have to explain that we are identical twins.
however, i've had an interesting situation whereby a friend who knows that i'm a twin, told me that he saw someone that looked more alike than my brother himself. i did not believe this at first, but it was also confirmed by other people. i personally haven't seen this person before, but if my friends think so, it should be true then.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
27 Nov 08
I believe what your friend said is true, and they did not plan to pull your leg. As for identical twins, there are minor differences which can be noticed if a person is to look carefully. I know because my spouse has an identical twin.
Thank you for your response.
