{"id":75089,"date":"2014-08-07T13:44:21","date_gmt":"2014-08-07T17:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=75089"},"modified":"2014-08-07T13:44:21","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T17:44:21","slug":"suits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/07\/suits\/","title":{"rendered":"Suits"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Was_soll_ich_werden_45\"<\/a>

From What Should I Be? (Was soll ich werden?)<\/i> (1888), a picture book by Lothar Meggendorfer.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yesterday I went suit shopping with my brother. The suit was to be a birthday gift from my parents; I\u2019d been entrusted with the task of supervising the purchase. We started out in a well-known British chain. \u201cHe\u2019s looking for a suit,\u201d I announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you two getting married?\u201d asked the salesman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re siblings,\u201d we said at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be weird, then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After this, I was paranoid. \u201cOur parents<\/em> are giving him a suit for his birthday,\u201d I would announce loudly. Or, apropos of nothing, \u201cI\u2019m his sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

When, finally, we went to a tailor, I decided to further clarify the situation by being abusive while my brother was measured.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t find a suit off the rack,\u201d I informed the tailor, \u201cbecause he has the build of an undernourished Victorian chimney sweep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a perfectly normal size,\u201d said the tailor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if you\u2019re used to suiting children and midgets!\u201d I scoffed. No one said anything, so then I excused myself.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not particularly proud of this display, but I think a little discomfort in these situations is natural.\u00a0Indeed, it can take even stranger forms. One friend said he particularly dislikes people assuming he\u2019s on dates with his sister not merely because it\u2019s creepy, but because he hates their thinking he has so little chemistry with his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

I had always figured those families who all look uncannily alike had it easier in these situations. But I had reckoned without human weirdness. \u201cIt must be great that you\u2019ve never once had to worry about someone thinking you and your sister were a couple,\u201d I said to a friend with a nearly identical younger sibling. \u201cAre you kidding?\u201d he said. \u201cI worry that people think I\u2019m such a pathological narcissist that I have to date someone who looks exactly like me!\u201d<\/p>\n

So, there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I went suit shopping with my brother. The suit was to be a birthday gift from my parents; I\u2019d been entrusted with the task of supervising the purchase. We started out in a well-known British chain. \u201cHe\u2019s looking for a suit,\u201d I announced. \u201cAre you two getting married?\u201d asked the salesman. \u201cWe\u2019re siblings,\u201d we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[664,14905,6664,14904,2514,14506],"class_list":["post-75089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-dating","tag-misperceptions","tag-shopping","tag-siblings","tag-suits","tag-tailors"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Lack of Chemistry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on siblings being mistaken as significant others.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/07\/suits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suits by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 7, 2014 \u2013 Yesterday I went suit shopping with my brother. 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