6 ms·
Pardon me for my ignorance, but wouldn't sons of first cousins be second cousins?
by dietrichepp 10y ago
Pardon me for my ignorance, but wouldn't sons of first cousins be second cousins?
- ironrabbit 10y agoLanguage quirk :) The son of my first cousin is my first cousin once removed. My son and my cousin's son are second cousins.
- dietrichepp 10y agoAh, I read "sons of first cousins" as "two people who are first cousins to each other each have a son". "A son of a first cousin" would be much less ambiguous. In fact, even knowing what you meant, I have a hard time reading the meaning you intended to convey. Another clearer way to phrase it would be "sons of my first cousin are not my second cousins".
- hellofunk 10y agoActually the term "second cousin" does not have a concrete meaning. It can mean a true second cousin, or it can also mean a generation removed from a first cousin. The "once removed" terminology was introduced to compensate for this ambiguity.
- fiatjaf 10y agoNo! Stop the removed madness!
- delecti 10y agoGenerally the "1st/2nd" bit denotes how many generations up you have to go to find a common ancestor, and "removed" is how many generations removed the other person is from that generation. You are, to your your first cousin's child, who is your first cousin once-removed, a second cousin once-removed.
- jccalhoun 10y agoyes. the wording and the fact that other people seemed to agree with the op made me spend way too much time on this.
- graywh 10y agoHe must be referring to one's own first cousin's children. Not the children of two first cousins.
- fiatjaf 10y agoYou can call them anything you like, I'm just saying that you shouldn't.