Referring to that set of people as “the cousins”? Yes, I do use those specific words for that specific set of people. I come from a large extended family; we need some way to refer to ourselves. Sometimes we also use “the grandchildren”, but that depends on context of knowing just whose grandchildren.
But as @DSeid said, that is a unique use of the term because you are referring to these people as a shorthand, as “all of my grandchildren.” I really don’t know of anyone who would say that their grandchild is their “zeroth cousin twice removed” for example.
This is a YouTube video from CGP Grey about how to describe family relationships. It’s pretty good, and rather amusing.
I once had email contact with a gentleman who was a seventh cousin once removed to me. He and I ate both descendants of an ancestor who came to America in 1722. That guy had a lot of kids and I’m the descendant of one son, while this guy I chatted with was the descendant of another son.
Again however, no one is claiming anyone does. The phrase is useful however to help some us better grok how the other relationship identifiers work.
A square is a special case of rectangle, special enough that we have a separate word for it. So nobody refers to a square as a rectangle when the more specific (and thus more information-bearing) word applies.
A circle is a special case of ellipse, special enough that we have a separate word for it. So nobody refers to a circle as an ellipse when the more specific (and thus more information-bearing) word applies.
A brother/sister is a special case of a cousin, special enough that we have separate words (even two gender-specific) words for it. So nobody refers to a brother/sister/sibling as a cousin when one of the more specific (and thus more information-bearing) words apply.
We can let UltraVires be the judge of WV jokes.
I gotta say it sounds like something you’d find in a Dungeons & Dragons manual.
zeroth cousins I have none, but this man’s minus one cousin once removed is my minus one cousin once removed’s minus one cousin once removed
hmmm… doesn’t rhyme
I have found that very, very few people outside of genealogists actually have the faintest clue what “removed” means when talking about relatives. And probably most people have never heard of the term before, or at least not paid attention to it. On the other hand, EVERYBODY has heard about second cousins, third cousins, etc. Therefore, the default position for 90+% of the population is to assume that any slightly-distant relative is a second cousin, simply because they can’t imagine what other term would apply.
Joe Btfsplk, the world’s worst jinx character in Li’l Abner, understood what “many times removed” meant. He once mentioned visiting his distant cousin in New York, . . .
My zeroth cousin has mentioned to me on occasion that he thinks there also exists another system of nomenclature for cousins, different from the system that we are discussing here. But he doesn’t know what that other system is.
I suspect that he’s referring to “degrees of separation” (I’m not sure if that’s the right term), which is the number of links you must traverse in the family tree to get from one person to another.
If you look again at the consanguinity table, note the number at the upper left corner of each box. That is the number that I am referring to here.
This fails because the terminology being used here for cousins and removal is symmetric even where the relation is asymmetric. That is, “minus one cousin once removed” means “father” but the same phrase also means “son”.
In terms of examples that get used in real life, a phrase like “first cousin once removed” describes cousins of two different generations – an asymmetric relation – yet the same phrase is used for the relation of each to the other.
We have special terms like father, son, uncle, nephew, for special cases. But what if we used the same word for “uncle” and “nephew”? It would be like that.
Fails? There is still only one answer. This man is my minus one cousin once removed.
(Which of course can either be my son or my father. At least I think that works. It’s really late)
It’s late here to, and I didn’t actually parse that out. It’s interesting if it can actually work out either way.
I think it might still be a problem, in that it could be parsed a whole bunch of different ways. In your retelling, the phrase “minus one cousin once removed” occurs three times. Each of those times could be taken to mean “father” or “son” independently of the other two times, so I think that gives rise to eight possible meanings. It would be interesting to list all eight meanings and figure out which of them “work”.
It could be “This man’s father is my father’s father”
or: “This man’s son is my son’s son”
or: “This man’s son is my father’s father”
or: “This man’s son is my son’s father”
or: “This man’s son is my father’s son”
or: “This man’s father is my son’s son”
or: “This man’s father is my son’s father”
or: “This man’s father is my father’s son”
Let’s See…
This man’s father is my father’s father”
Father
or: “This man’s son is my son’s son”
Son
or: “This man’s son is my father’s father”
Great grandfather - doh
or: “This man’s son is my son’s father”
Father
or: “This man’s son is my father’s son”
Father
or: “This man’s father is my son’s son”
great grandson -doh
or: “This man’s father is my son’s father”
Son
or: “This man’s father is my father’s son”
Son
Two failures. Not bad!
Yikes. I couldn’t figure all that out at this hour. What time zone are you in?
Ha ha. Central. Way too late. Procrastinating a deadline.
While this has been answered multiple times, submitted for your perusal, an earlier thread from2010 on the subject.
I’ve also in some occasions heard an (older) 1C1R referred to as an ‘aunt’ or uncle.’ In “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Uncle Jed” was actually Jethro’s 1C1R. (That was just a TV program, but I have actually heard this IRL.)
“Aunt” and “uncle” are sometimes used as honorifics more than declarations of relatedness in some subcultures.
Sure. Even I, growing up in a Polish household, called various people “uncle” and “aunt” who were not my blood relatives. But it extends beyond that – some of my friends will introduce me as “Uncle Peter” instead of “Mister Peter” or something like that to their kids, and they’re not following Polish culture or anything like that.
Ignorance does exist.
Fighting it is the raison d’être of this board. Hence, this thread. The potential majority can indeed be wrong, and we strive to reduce that one inquirer at a time.