# My brother's father-in-law is my what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096 "2007-11-03T09:20:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/21 "2007-11-03T17:30:31Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] You’re brother-in-law’s brother would also be your brother-in-law. Your sister’s brother-in-law would be different. [/QUOTE] 😕 No, they’re the exact same person – the brother of the man who’s married to my sister. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/22 "2007-11-03T18:07:13Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] 😕 No, they’re the exact same person – the brother of the man who’s married to my sister. [/QUOTE] Your brother-in-law (first example) can also be your spouse’s brother. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/23 "2007-11-03T18:09:56Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] 😕 No, they’re the exact same person – the brother of the man who’s married to my sister. [/QUOTE] My BIL’s brother could be my wife’s brother (if she has more then one). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/24 "2007-11-03T18:16:39Z")
Shelly Winters as Nana Mary (Roseanne’s mother’s mother): Let’s see, you are married to my daughter’s husband’s father. That makes you and me…nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/25 "2007-11-03T18:37:52Z")
When I met my brother’s wife’s sister’s husband’s brother, we tried to figure out the simplest way to describe our relationship. We gave up. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/26 "2007-11-03T18:39:47Z")
I can’t post what my siblings call my Father-in-law. At least not in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/27 "2007-11-03T19:06:49Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] I can’t post what my siblings call my Father-in-law. At least not in GQ. [/QUOTE] Jerry? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/28 "2007-11-03T20:45:12Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] Your brother-in-law (first example) can also be your spouse’s brother. [/QUOTE] Could be, but isn’t. I was pointing out that one particular individual could be identified in two (slightly) different ways, not that there couldn’t be more than one way of fitting into that slot. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/29 "2007-11-03T21:48:43Z")
[QUOTE=StuffLikeThatThere] My husband calls them “shirttail relatives.” By them I mean your brother’s father-in-law, and other not-quite-relatives that you feel related to because you are both related to the same people in different ways. I think it’s just something that he made up himself, but I kind of like it. [/QUOTE] I came in to say that. It’s a good term, since people like that are not exactly your friends, usually, and they are not exactly your relatives, but you keep bumping into them on Thanksgiving and other family gathering-type holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/30 "2007-11-03T21:55:16Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] Is there a word for this relationship? [/QUOTE] We’ve used “uncle-in-law” to describe the relationship between me and any number of my relatives by marriage, but the family I married into is large, Italian, and doesn’t really bother with describing relationships with any deal of precision. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/31 "2007-11-03T22:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Could be, but isn’t. I was pointing out that one particular individual could be identified in two (slightly) different ways, not that there couldn’t be more than one way of fitting into that slot. [/QUOTE] My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/32 "2007-11-04T03:10:43Z")
I have no brothers or sisters, but my sister in law’s father in law is also my wife’s uncle, somehow. It makes more sense in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/33 "2007-11-04T03:22:00Z")
Are you your own grandpa, by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/34 "2007-11-04T03:23:41Z")
I wish. ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/35 "2007-11-04T04:15:10Z")
[QUOTE=zagloba] “shirttail relatives” is a good term for such people, but if your husband made it up independently, he’s not the first or only one to do so. I’ve heard and read it in many places, though I can’t tell you how common or widespread it is. [/QUOTE] Oh, probably he didn’t, then. He’s just the only one I’ve ever heard use it, and he does have a tendency toward coining new phrases if there isn’t an appropriate one available. But if you’ve heard it elsewhere, probably so has he. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/36 "2007-11-04T04:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] Title says it all, really. Is there a word for this relationship? [/QUOTE] In Tennessee, he’s often your grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![DefyingGravity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@DefyingGravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DefyingGravity)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/37 "2007-11-04T19:19:53Z")
Inlaws of your sibling = “Competitors for presence of sibling at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner”. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/38 "2007-11-05T07:56:59Z")
No deaths, divorces or remarriages or other stuff allowed my Dad to say, “My sister-in-law’s son-in-law is my brother-in-law.” ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/39 "2007-11-05T09:57:12Z")
[QUOTE=StuffLikeThatThere] Oh, probably he didn’t, then. He’s just the only one I’ve ever heard use it, and he does have a tendency toward coining new phrases if there isn’t an appropriate one available. But if you’ve heard it elsewhere, probably so has he. [/QUOTE] Yes, it’s an old phrase. Here’s OED’s earliest cite for it: > [@](#): > > 1941 Amer. Speech XVI. 24/2 Shirt-tail kin, a remote relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096/40 "2007-11-05T12:43:31Z")
We call them our out-laws. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-brothers-father-in-law-is-my-what/425096.md?page=3)