If you get confused working out your cousins' number and removal distance, be glad you're not Chinese!

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

OK, not really relevant to here, but someone just tweeted it and I
thought it was fun, so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=nCFRoILS1jY&feature=youtu.be

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
OK, not really relevant to here, but someone just tweeted it and I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=nCFRoILS1jY&feature=youtu.be

Yes, but in a culture where about half the population is called Wong
you'd think they had a more urgent problem to sort out. Like the Welsh,
Koreans, Vietnamese and Ghanaians, the Chinese don't seem to have
figured out that there is not much point in having surnames if everyone
has the same one.

[Jenny M Benson]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
OK, not really relevant to here, but someone just tweeted it and I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=nCFRoILS1jY&feature=youtu.be

A friend of mine, whose husband is Chinese, didn't find it fun. She
told me her in-law used her inability to grasp it all as yet another
metaphorical stick to beat her with.

[cecilia]

On Fri, 5 Feb 2021 12:28:13 +0000, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
OK, not really relevant to here, but someone just tweeted it and I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=nCFRoILS1jY&feature=youtu.be

A friend of mine, whose husband is Chinese, didn't find it fun. She
told me her in-law used her inability to grasp it all as yet another
metaphorical stick to beat her with.

If one is brought up with it, it may be useful.


A Spaniard who met most of her English boy-friend's family at a
large event on her first vist to England said that having people
introduced as "my cousin <name>" was much easier in a culture where
surnames were <father's 1st surname> <mother's 1st surname> - in Spain
one usually unconsciously absorbed whether the cousin was likely to
be a child of a paternal aunt, paternal uncle, maternal aunt, maternal
uncle, or an in-law, and therefore understood how they related to each
other as well as to the person introducuing them.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by cecilia
On Fri, 5 Feb 2021 12:28:13 +0000, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
OK, not really relevant to here, but someone just tweeted it and I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=nCFRoILS1jY&feature=youtu.be

A friend of mine, whose husband is Chinese, didn't find it fun. She
told me her in-law used her inability to grasp it all as yet another
metaphorical stick to beat her with.

If one is brought up with it, it may be useful.
A Spaniard who met most of her English boy-friend's family at a
large event on her first vist to England said that having people
introduced as "my cousin <name>" was much easier in a culture where
surnames were <father's 1st surname> <mother's 1st surname> - in Spain
one usually unconsciously absorbed whether the cousin was likely to
be a child of a paternal aunt, paternal uncle, maternal aunt, maternal
uncle, or an in-law, and therefore understood how they related to each
other as well as to the person introducuing them.

Although Spanish doesn't have many more ways to express relationships
than English does, but it does have plenty of words that are not
derived in an obvious way from the base words:

Yerno: son-in-law
Nieto: grandson
Bisnieto: great grandson
Suegro: father-in-law
Padastro: stepfather
Abuelo: grandfather
Bisabuelo: great grandfather
Tatarabuelo: great great grandfather
Cuñado: brother-in-law
Sobrino: nephew
Tío: uncle
Padrino: godfather
Ahijado: godson

I've shown the masculine forms. In all cases replace -o by -a to get
the feminine.