My mom’s recently told me some stories of her childhood, and used the phrase “backyard cousin” a time or two. She says that these were children of people who were close friends of her parents, close enough that she and her sister addressed them as “aunt” and “uncle” as a courtesy and respect. I’ve heard the term “dutch uncle/aunt” used to describe that relationship, but I’d never heard the term “backyard cousin” before.
So that got me to wondering, what’s the origin of the term, where and when is it (or was it) in common usage, and what is it generally understood to mean?
Interestingly, I’ve found the origin of the phrase “dutch aunt/uncle”, and it’s not at all the way we used it. I wonder if that’s an indication of an actual change in meaning, or if someone did a bit of creative rewriting in our family.
According to Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, a “backyard cousin” is a relation of whom one is not proud, particularly due to illegitimacy. It dates back to the '30s, and doesn’t appear to be much in current use.
Wow. That is … so very different from the sense my mom was using it in. It’s even more different than the way we use “dutch aunt/uncle” is from its (apparently) accepted meaning.