Quick question

[conuly]

If somebody were to randomly neologize the term "Aunt-in-law" or "Uncle-in-law", would you assume that to mean that it was THEIR aunt/uncle by marriage (that is, their parent's sibling's spouse) OR that it was their spouse's aunt/uncle?

Comments

[trialia]

Either or.

[steorra]

I can imagine it meaning either, and if I heard it I would probably guess based on context, but in the absence of context my guess is that it 'should' mean spouse's aunt/uncle, because there's otherwise no word for spouse's aunt/uncle, while own aunt/uncle by marriage does have a word (aunt/uncle).

[ysobel]

My instinct would be spouse's aunt/uncle. I consider my dad's brother's wife to be my aunt as much as my dad's brother is my uncle, and same with my mom's sister and mom's sister's husband.

I think I would be paralleling to mother-in-law, which is spouse's mother; I have never seen it used to refer to father's-wife-as-distinct-from-mother. So use of "aunt-in-law" to refer to parent's-brother's-wife would be a bit jarring for me; I would understand it once explained, but I would need the explanation.

(Interestingly, paralleling step-parent doesn't work for me either; "step-aunt" would be step-parent's sister (by blood or marriage). I guess my ideolect has no distinction between aunt/uncle by blood and aunt/uncle by marriage...)

[bessemerprocess]

I think I would initially think spouse's but wouldn't be surprised if it were the other way around.

Also, I'm trying to pick out a babywearing device to present to my bff on the birth of her sproglet. I read through your babywearing tag, and am possibly less sure what to get now than I was then. If you have the time and the inclination, would you mind if I asked a couple questions? (basically am trying to figure out what will be easiest/safest for two people who've never even seen anyone wear a baby to get all set up, and what would work best with a newborn. I've been looking at Etsy and am overwhelmed by the options.)

[conuly]

Yeah, I do tend to overinform, don't I?

LOL.

But yes, I'll be willing to answer basic questions. And if I can't, I can direct you to the folks who can! (That'd be the good people of thebabywearer.com, which must genuinely be the nicest forum on the internet.)

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I would assume that the relationship went directly through my spouse, so it would be my spouse's aunt or uncle.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, a parent's sibling's spouse would be a step aunt or uncle, wouldn't they?

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Embrace the power of "and."

[redbird]

Their spouse's aunt or uncle. In my family, my aunt or uncle's spouse is my uncle or aunt. If we use titles at all: my aunt's partner of many years (and now husband) is just "Dave," I think because he wasn't part of the set of relatives when I was growing up. But I'd say either "my aunt's husband" or "my uncle Dave," not "my uncle-in-law Dave."

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Spouse's aunt or uncle. If someone marries our biological uncle, they become our aunt, or aunt-by-marriage if we want to get technical. Mom used to call this a shirttail relative.

[conuly]

No! No! There IS no and, this is an EITHER/OR choice! YOU... MUST... CHOOSE!

[conuly]

Wouldn't that be a step-parent's sibling?

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

"In-law" means it goes through a spouse.

[conuly]

Such as your uncle's SPOUSE, right?

[feebeeglee.livejournal.com]

Second option - their spouse's aunt/uncle.

But I'd say "my husband's aunt" to avoid any confusion.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Well, my spouse, then. My uncle's spouse is my aunt*. Aunt and uncle come as sets*, same as mother and father*. The in-law applies to both of them equally, if it applies at all.

Things fall apart at the cousin level, but it's not like cousins make sense anyway.

*I'm using straight language because all the long-term relationships in my family are straight.

[leora.livejournal.com]

A spouse's aunt or uncle, since the spouse of my parent's sibling is my aunt or uncle, not my aunt-in-law or my uncle-in-law.

[beezelbubbles.livejournal.com]

Whn I say it, I mean my spouse's aunt/uncle, and regardless of if it's his blood relative or their spouse. My aunts and unlces are all referrered to as such, despite blood. I only make distinctions for the ones I don't care for: my uncle's wife, my aunt's husband, that son of a bitch who tricked my aunt into marrying him. That sort of thing.

[ncp.livejournal.com]

THere are already words for these in Hindi:
Father's brother's Wife: Chachi (younger)/Taiji (elder)
Mother's brother's Wife: Mami
Father's sister's husband: Phupha
Mother's sister's husband: Mausa

When you get married, your spouses relatives become your relatives, so:
Father's sister: Bua
Father's brother: Chacha (younger)/Tauji(elder)
Mother's sister: Mausi
Mother's brother: Mama

[conuly]

Hindi is clearly a language rich in familial relationships. I don't, uh, speak Hindi. I'm tragically monolingual :(

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

It's my spouse's aunt or uncle.

A step-uncle would be my step-parent's brother, for the record.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

Spouse's aunt/uncle.

My parent's sibling's spouse is my aunt/uncle.

[pne.livejournal.com]

This.

While I'm aware of which of (say) my uncles are my mother's brothers and which are my mother's brothers-in-law, I don't make a distinction in words: I neither have separate words for "older brother of my mother" and "younger brother of my mother" (as some cultures do) nor for "mother's brother" and "mother's sister's spouse" (similarly for aunts, and for relatives on my father's side).

So "aunt-/uncle-in-law" would, for me, be unambiguously "spouse's parent's sibling(-in-law)".

[pne.livejournal.com]

You speak some French and/or Walloon, though, don't you?

[conuly]

Not really, and I hope I've never claimed I have. I *wish* I spoke either - and to my undying consternation it seems one needs to know French to be taught Walloon - but I don't.

I used to be able to *read* French, and I can understand a lot of very *basic* French (I have a similar understanding of "Yiddish as spoken to preschoolers", which just goes to show that kids and teachers are all alike) but that's about it.