I don’t expect to get one definite answer here, but Google can’t give me one either. Some websites say they’re your second cousin, and others say they’re your first cousin once removed. I’m trying to figure out some family tree stuff so I need to know the difference between the (groups of) terms.
I usually refer to this chart :)
Holy shit…I always thought the phrase “second cousin twice removed” meant they were your cousin’s cousin on the other side of their family, and the twice removed meant they did something awful, was removed from the family. Then was forgiven, brought back into the family, and fucked up again. So now they’re your second cousin…twice removed.
“He was my fourth cousin, thrice removed. He just couldn’t stay away from the bottle and started many brawls at the reunions, baptisms, and funerals.”
Ah so second cousins are in the same generation. I have two first cousins twice removed (children of grandparents sibling) who I always though were second cousins. Now I get the term. If either of them have children, those would be second cousins.
This is a phenomenal resource! In all my years, I haven’t actually heard anyone say “once removed” in story telling. I would almost feel weird saying it, despite it being technically correct. It’s like saying “whom” out loud, you might be right, but people start mocking you.
Yes I need better coworkers, what are you gonna do…
The only story telling I’ve heard it used was A Series of Unfortunate Events. Pretty sure each caretaker gets a cousin designation. But that, of course, is entirely fiction in an excessively diverse, rich, bodacious literary presentation filled to the brim with grimly austere vernacular from the Vocabulary For Defiants.
With such sharp, acidic wit, you might say the prose is… Lemony.