In Korean there’s no single word for “sister of your father or mother”. Nor, “brother of your mother or father”.
In Chinese, by contrast, there is a somewhat large lexicon that describes the relational position of a family member very specifically. It is my understanding that Russian used to be similarly specific but the usage patterns atrophied and dropped off about a century ago.
Or niece/nephew although “nibling” is starting to be used and “pibling” for aunt/uncle.
And of course “brother/sister in-law” describes two entirely different situations: a sibling’s spouse or a spouse’s siblings.
Which brings up the ongoing argument in our family: My wife’s sister, ‘Carol’, is married to ‘Tom’. Tom, then, is my wife’s brother-in-law. Is Tom also my brother-in-law?
I say yes, but other family members say no.
I agree with @Lumpy’s definition.
My wife’s brother is my brother-in-law
My sister’s husband is my brother-in-law
My wife’s sister’s husband is her brother-in-law but not mine.
According to Cambridge online dictionary, a brother-in-law is:
the husband of your sister or brother, or the brother of your husband or wife, or the man who is married to the sister or brother of your wife or husband
Ok. I’ll accept that.
I think Ann and Andy are themselves siblings…
Last I saw, Google usually recommended swimming across the Atlantic, but kayaking across the Pacific.
I have to wonder about head and pubic lice populations being isolated from each other by loss of body hair: Surely, contact between human heads and pubic areas isn’t that rare?
And that cloud leopard is most definitely gorgeous.
I will agree with you, but I do call my brother’s mother-in-law my mother-in-law-in-law.
Technically, a brother- or sister-in-law is separated by one degree of marriage. People colloquially use the term more broadly, though. See brother-in-law - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Is the guy my wife’s sister hasn’t actually married my brother-out-law? Of just her brother-out-law?
Only if his name is Josey Wales.
I don’t think it’s an outlaw unless it’s someone on the wrong side of the law. If your sister-in-law is this guy’s bigamous second wife, maybe your wife’s brother-out-law. Or if they’re first cousins in a place where that’s illegal, but they got married anyway. Otherwise he’s just a brother-not-in-law, or not a brother-in-law for short, for either one of you. If they had some sort of other contractual arrangement he could be a rentboy-in-law, domestic-partner-in-law, roommate-in-law… the possibilities are endless.
If I married a widow while my widowed father married her daughter, would that make me my own grandpa?
I refer to my siblings unmarried long-term (25+ years in one case) as my sister- and brother-out-law.
This expert says yes:
granpadrastro
Swedish (and perhaps other languages too) have separate words for “maternal grandfather” , “maternal grandmother”, and the same on the fathers side.
The woman my son lives with is my daughter-in-custom-and-practice, if that helps.
j