CHATter: Zhang & Wong Family Reunions (was Re: The pitfall of Chinese/Mandarin

In a message dated 09.12.2001 01:25:58 PM, hsteoh@QUICKFUR.YI.ORG writes:

>*snicker* there are distinct words for
>your father's siblings (and distinctions between younger/older,
>male/female), your mother's siblings (and distinctions between
>younger/older and male/female), AND your in-laws, plus separate terms with
>the same distinctions for each uncle/aunt on your in-laws' side, etc.,
>etc., ad infinitum. And this only covers relatives of the same
>generation... it gets a LOT worse with grandparents, nephews, nieces, ...
>
>(And, unlike what they tell you, most Chinese can't figure out all those
>terms either... they tend to only know those terms that actually
>correspond with somebody that exists in their family -- which is a
>consequence of having the proper term seared into their memory through
>strict repetitious reminders at every single family reunion -- and they
>usually have a hard time remembering exactly what relationship the term
>denotes. :-P)
    ACK! & AiYaH!!! Don't remind me... ::bad memories of totally screwing up
all the necessary politenesses demanded from my mother's family - the
infamous Wong Side of the Family - at all the various sized gatherings::
    I get headaches just tryin' to match up the right forms with the name and
faces! It's hard enough that names & faces get confusing (esp'ly the flatter,
sly-scholar-like featured faces of the Wongs... after a while one Wong uncle
looks like another... or even like an aunt *SNaRFLe* then again I was
self-medicating like a madman just to cope with the Wong Family backstabbing
& politicking... imagine "Fear & Loathing" Wong Family Reunion Style and that
is just a inkling how nightmarish it got...
     [one positive, at least the Wongs are a lil too "civilized" to get into
the more melodramatic -even violent (*) - caca Cantonese and Taiwanese tend
to do when these ultra-volitile family big-dos go Really Reaaallly Bad

(*)  i.e. kitchen knives suddenly gettin' a lil too animate for any sentient
person's comfort, other "sharp *and* blunt objects" getting suddenly
aerodynamic... and the "AiYaH!" of onlookers increasin' in wildness &
craziness like a demented Greek chorus... "Family Values"  *SNaRFLe*
    BTW the Zhangs I descend from are Cantonese-Indonesians/Malaysians/Thais,
etc. ... Big Hint: in Malay the word _amok_ comes really too quickly to
mind... go figger the rest  }:P~ ])

    OBCONLANG/CONCULTURE: What family dysfunctionalisms exist in your
concultures & how are they described? Or are they "ignored"?

    czHANgie, lost in remembrance, baffled by memories, somewhat troubled by
all this autobiographical spillage... blah *spassogoogolocteto!* ;)


*gigglagoogolbyte*/*spassogoogolocteto*