|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
SWMBO and MILWMBO - poor, poor CapK 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
and is there a term for cousin not in the same gereration?
my father's family is 'fractured'
I think saudara/i would be used for people who are more or less your own age, and for much older cousins you would use om or tante, but that's just a feeling. It's as much a question of etiquette as language and quite possibly varies from ethnic group to ethnic group.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
SWMBO and MILWMBO - poor, poor CapK
Thanks Bel. I just feel so - endangered! [running and hiding -e]
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
parents'-in-law for the the whole bunch of in-laws on either side. Writing of course, kinda awkward to say "parentses!"
So why not "all the in-laws" and skip parents?
Or is that too easy?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
what am I missing here, guys? We have a description (a noun phrase) with the form ~in-law, with the stem varied by wether it is singular or plural. But in both cases the possessive suffix is surely 's. Or is that all much too simple? 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Well somewhere in all the posts up there you will see where we ran into a conundrum Mav. You say "my mother-in-law's house in nice" because the whole term 'mother-in-law' is the noun BUT If mother-in-law is really a noun then why isn't it mother-in-laws (instead of mothers-in-law) when referring to the mom on both sides of the family. And is it mothers-in-law's houses or mother-in-laws' houses. And when you refer to both parents on both sides it becomes an unweildy mouthful (leave that one alone dear - people are sensitive these days  and after that whole Bingley size of fig-leaf debacle, well, nuff said)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
why isn't it mother-in-laws...yeahbut® that's exactly what I do say. One MIL, 2 MILs, and even with the benefits of modern marriage 3 or more MILs  imho, Mothers-in-law is pedantic and tastes wrong. No problemo!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
and what also occurs to me, reading this again, is that it is partly a question as mentioned above of the compaction effect over time: whilst your proposal woud have been fine in the days when we were first talking about 'mother' qualified by legal status, I would argue we now universally talk about muthrinlaw - it's in effect one word.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
Cuñado=brother of your spouse
Cuñada=sister of your spouse
Pay attention, this is where it gets tricky-
Concuño=husband of your spouse's sister
Concuña=wife of your spouse's brother
OK, consuelo, but what about the spouse of your brother/sister? I've always found it odd that English doesn't have a seperate word for that relationship.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
We do Flatlander. The spouse of your brother is your sister-in-law, and the spouse of your sister is your brother-in-law.
Were you, perhaps, talking about the siblings of your brother(or sister)-in-law? There is no 'one' word to describe these people, well, "strangers" if you really don't know them.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,652
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
156
guests, and
3
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
