|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1 |
Can someone tell me the word for a man who lives with his in-laws? Thanks
RampalliSarma
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Several possibilities come to mind.
Tolerant.
Foolish.
Anxious.
Broke.
Guess it depends on why.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
A "live-in son-in-law" is the best I can do. I don't believe there is one word that covers that specific case in English. A derogatory term would be "mooch", but that is a general term that applies to anyone who takes freely from others without intending to repay or otherwise compensate the giver. It has only negative connotations, whereas the phrase I made up for you is neutral, to my ear anyway. Maybe someone else will have a better idea for you! :0)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Sorry for my earlier flippant answer. Seriously, can you tell us what culturally this signifies? Is it someone who is doing something he should, like honouring his wife's family or providing for them, etc, or someone doing what he should NOT, like relying on them for his upkeep and income? If it is the latter, then the words "freeloader" or "sponger" come to mind. But without knowing the cultural context of the practice it is hard to say.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631 |
Googling the phrase leads you to this thread, the synopsis of a Tamil movie, and this word: içgüvey. But it's Turkish. The Turkish word for bride or daughter-in-law, gelin, literally means, "she who comes." The reverse situation rarely occurs. A man who lives with his in-lawsan içgüvey, i.e. an "inside" bridgegroom or son-in-lawis looked upon as rather pathetic.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
In some societies this is the norm. They are referred to as matrilocal. The Navajo Indians in the US Southwest are an example. I know about three words in Navajo, none of them the word in question, but I suspect it would translate as husband or son-in-law depending on your point of view. I wouldn't bet that we have a word in English.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
I wouldn't bet that we have a word in English. but we have a phrase, or phrases that will do. Zmjezhd has written often(delightfully) about our apparent need for a single, Grand-Unified Word for every concept that we come up with. In the End was the Word...
Last edited by etaoin; 06/19/08 12:49 PM. Reason: decided I should really spell zmjezhd's name correctly!)
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Oh!How familiar.  When I'm too lazy to copy the ZM name I always got it wrong. And always tempted to let it be, I end up doing the correction. We really do have them. There's so many bridges in all those canals that have be to opened for the higher types of boats, that each bridge has a watcher, sitting there all day, married to the bridge.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>Zmjezhd has written often.. decided I should really spell zmjezhd's name correctly!
this brings up a question, which has no doubt been asked here before (but the answer seems not to have been memorous (or momentous)): what is the preferred style when starting a sentence with 'zmjezhd' (or 'tsuwm' for that matter)? zmjezhd would be my preference, but that's obvious, isn't it?!
-l. ron. o.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,915
Posts230,012
Members9,198
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
833
guests, and
9
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
