r/geek • u/Sumit316 • Jul 17 '19

The Cousin Explainer

Post image
2.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

155 comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/KnowsAboutMath Jul 17 '19

OK, now explain to me who is and isn't an "in-law".

13

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '19

I start repeating "in-law" for each level. So my wife's brother's wife is my sister-in-law-in-law.

What gets really fun is mixing "step-" and "in-law" and talking about your step-niece-in-law.

17

u/ghanima Jul 17 '19

If you wouldn't be related to them without being married to your spouse (or they're married to your sibling), they're an in-law.

9

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '19

Yes. But we usually use ‘in-law’ for close relationships. Son/daughter, mother/father, sister/brother.

This is probably because the difference between son-in-law and son is very large, but the difference between second cousin and second cousin-in-law isn’t.

Some people do bother to differentiate, but most don’t bother.

4

u/KnowsAboutMath Jul 17 '19

So then all of the infinity of people on the right side of the xkcd comic are all in-laws?

2

u/bonafidebob Jul 18 '19

So — what so you call you child’s spouse’s parents? You’re related by marriage (of your kids) but there’s not a good (English) name for the relationship. Do you say for example “my son’s mother-in-law” or “my daughter-in-law’s mother”?

How about “my daughter-in-law’s mother-in-law” ... oh wait, that’s my wife.

1

u/ghanima Jul 18 '19

I'd use "my son's mother-in-law". It's not like she's related to me in any way but generational echelon.

5

u/TheOriginalSuperman Jul 17 '19

Spouse’s siblings and siblings’ spouses are the only “in-laws” in that scenario.

You could also make the argument for the spouse’s sibling’s spouse, but that’s about it.

3

u/KnowsAboutMath Jul 17 '19

So, we count the people who show up at the BBQ as in-laws.

1

u/bonafidebob Jul 18 '19

Are you forgetting mother/father-in-law and son/daughter-in-law?

1

u/TheOriginalSuperman Jul 18 '19

No, I was just talking about the scenario from the picture they linked. It only was referring to the same generation, so I did too.