I’m My Own Grandpa
Posted in Life on 10/03/2009 07:53 pm by enjanerdHad a lengthy discussion today about how Ian is related to my brother’s wife. I think she’s his sister-in-law; he thinks sister-in-law-in-law (this is an improvement over his previous stance that his brother’s wife is my nothing). My father says brother-in-law’s wife.
He says that my relations would be his relations plus an added “-in-law.” But if you just blindly add “-in-law” to everything, does that make Ian’s brother his own brother-in-law-in-law? Then, Ian had to clarify that it would have to be a directed acyclic graph, so I couldn’t describe someone he’s related to with respect to how I’m related to them through him. That seems like a valid argument.
But another contrary example: my nieces are his nieces, not his nieces-in-law. So if you don’t need to add an extra “-in-law” to them, why do you need to add an extra one to my sister-in-law?
So what do you think? Who’s right? Me, my husband-in-law, or his father-in-law?
And while you’re judging things… If someone leaves the stove on and someone else comes along and puts a potholder on the active burner, who is at fault? The person who left the stove on? Or the potholderer?