Which Twin is which

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 43466

I wrote:
> << I will persist in my claim that the twins have no character depth 
> whatsoever until someone points out a way of telling them apart.) >>

And Catladay de Los Angeles responded:
> 
> Actually Jana (george_weasleys_girlfriend) long ago wrote a long 
> essay proving that George is the nice twin that originated as 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/16582 and I can't 
> remember what website houses a more developed version.

To which I say:

This isn't the first time I've heard the suggestion that George Weasly is 
the nice twin (although I can think of at least one instance in recent 
memory in which someone suggested that the opposite is the truth).  
However, the evidence in question doesn't suggest, in my opinion, that 
George is the nice twin, but rather that he is the *nicer* one.  The twins 
are, in general, nice (to Harry, at least.  Let's leave aside for the moment 
the question of whether or not they are cruel to people outside their own 
group) but George is nicer.  He berates Wood for encouraging Harry to 
"get the snitch or die trying", for example.  None of this suggests, however, 
that Fred is not nice - he participates in all of the nice things that George 
does, after all.  There is, in fact, only one occasion that I can think of to 
suggest that Fred isn't nice, and that's his infamous "keep your nose out 
of this" comment to Ron, and frankly, I'm reluctant to dub a person not nice 
because of a single statement.

So we're left with good evidence that George is nicer then Fred.  By all 
rights, this should be what I was asking for,right?  A way to tell the twins 
apart?  Except that I guess that wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  
Saying that one of the twins is nicer then the other one would help me tell 
them apart if I had them both in front of me.  But suppose that I was walking 
down the street and ran into one of the Weasly twins.  I could tell by talking 
to him that he is irreverent, funny, and has a penchant for breaking the rules.  
I might be able to detect a degree of niceness in him, but without the other 
twin it would be impossible for me to determine who I was talking to.  What 
I'm looking for, when I say I want a way to tell the twins apart are 
characteristics which are distinct to each twins, like a talent for music or a bad 
temper.  Having the same quality in varying degrees doesn't help to turn the 
twins into seperate entities because they are still both needed in order to 
differentiate one from the other - neither of them stands on his own.

Abigail