Re: Brothers-in-law-in-law

On Sun, 2 Aug 2009 09:35:18 +0100, "Jonathan Morton"
<jonathan.mortonbutignorethispart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Steve Hayes" <hayesmstw@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:g02a759lr99i6sf5mv4lk7l3s8eh11c2v6@xxxxxxxxxx

But I did refer to her mother's sister as my aunt, and my mother's
brother's
wife likewise.

I did the same. Again, if she's the mother of your cousins (in any) that's
good enough for me.

I'm not sure if we've ever mentioned here the use of "Uncle [or Aunt]
So-and-so" by children to refer to and address good friends of their
parents. I suspect that my generation (b. 1950s) was the last to use it, and
that it was a British (and possibly English) thing.

I've always regarded it as an Afrikaans thing, since it is (or was) customary
to address older males respectfully as "Oom" and females as "Tannie".

It passed over into English, where it is used disrespectfully - "Come on,
Uncle, move it" -- used of a car driver in front who is travelling slowly,
usually in the middle lane of a three-lane carriageway.


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
.

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