Wednesday, 7 October 2009
To coin a phrase
If our spouse's siblings and our siblings' spouses are brothers- and sisters-in-law, should our cousins' spouses not be called cousins-in-law? I had never come across the phrase and had decided that is what I shall be calling my cousin's husband from now on. Then I Googled it - and find that it is in common use! Oh well, back to the drawing board.
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7 comments:
"...find that it is in common use!
Where? By whom? I never heard of such a thing.
Perhaps 'common' is putting it a bit too strongly, but it is a term already in use (according to Wikipedia amongst others).
I posted a follow-up comment almost immediately, but it never showed up?
Anyway, it was regarding the multiple meanings of common.
So if a cousin-in-law gets divorced do they become an ex cousin-in-law?
Then there is the matter of common law partners. For example, a man living with but not married to a woman is (or was) said to have a common-law wife (though nowadays it would be a partner). So could one have a common-law brother-in-law or is that a contradiction in terms?
...or a common brother-in-law?
Are you calling me common?
You aren't my brother-in-law... and mine are far from common.
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