Monday, December 29, 2008

A Tangled Web

My family is getting large enough that I am beginning to not know what to call people.

Take for example my brother. He married a girl, who then became my sister-in-law. Well, she has a sister: what is she to me? And now, that sister is getting married: what will he be to me?

Another example is my sister's son: he would be my nephew. He married a girl a while back: what is she to me?

Also, my sister's daughter - otherwise known as my niece - had a baby boy. What is he to me?

Can anybody tell me?

And then, there's my sister-by-choice. She's been a part of our family for 25+ years, but is not related to us by blood. I made up her title because I don't think there is one for her. Well, she went and got married and had two kids. What do I call them?

And last but certainly not least, there’s my Cousin Chris: who isn’t really my cousin but is instead my cousin’s son.

It’s so confusing.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:52 PM

    I call them “family by heart”.

    Shelly

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:03 AM

    I like Shelly's comment!

    But if you want to know the "real" terminology, start a family tree on www.geni.com, i believe it's free. Our family got started on it a couple years ago and we have almost 400 people in our "family group"!! It does break down a person's relationship name as associated with you, down to those pesky once-, twice-, thrice-removed titles!. It's all very interesting stuff!
    Good luck and Happy New Year, Ruth!

    Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:00 PM

    That sounds like a great website. Did you check it out? It would be fun to get one going and have people add to it. :)

    ReplyDelete