Re: Kinship terminology

"H. S. Teoh" wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 12, 2000 at 09:09:50PM -0400, Nik wrote:
> > Adrian Morgan wrote:
> >
> > (and another thing - the lack of a generic for "parent's sibling" is
> > irritating).
>
> Ummm.... that's one of the things I LIKE about English... trust me, you do
> NOT want a system like in Chinese culture, where every relative, close or
> distant, is addressed by a different term.
[rant snipped]

I think you missed the point.  Adrian is calling for a term that means
"aunt or uncle", just as "sibling" means "brother or sister" and "parent"
means "father or mother".  This is *less* specific than English, not more
specific.

--
There is / one art                   || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
no more / no less                    || http://www.reutershealth.com
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with art- / lessness                 \\ -- Piet Hein