On Cousins
Hello World,
We need to get something straight.
I just returned from a trip to California where I met the children that my cousins have been churning out for the last five years. While the younglings were delightful, I was struck when 5-year old Zach referred to himself as my "second cousin"
Second cousin? How can that be? After all, if Zach (the eldest child of my cousin John) is my second cousin, then his children would be my third cousins and so on and so forth. That being the case, though, how do you account for all those mountain people who marry their fourth cousins and produce offspring who fall down all the time? Are the Clampetts really marrying relatives four rungs down the generational ladder?
A quick Wikipedia search has clarified some things. Contrary to popular belief, a second cousin is not the child of one's first cousin. The aforementioned Zach is my first cousin once removed: that is, he is one generation removed from my first cousin on the same generational plane as myself. A first cousin (John, father of Zach) is a relative stemming from a common set of grandparents; in order to be second cousins, the common ancestor for two people increases to the great-grandparents. Furthermore, third cousins have a common set of great-great-grandparents and so on and so forth. Therefore, no matter how many children John has, they will never be any more than my first cousins, just various levels removed.
Simply put, my Xth Cousin Y removed is a relative stemming from a common set of ancestors X+1 generations back (first for grandparents, second for great-grandparents etc.), Y generations below me. Therefore, dear world, I'm glad we've clarified this admittedly mind-boggling system, and would appreciate it if we could avoid confusing the situation further.
We need to get something straight.
I just returned from a trip to California where I met the children that my cousins have been churning out for the last five years. While the younglings were delightful, I was struck when 5-year old Zach referred to himself as my "second cousin"
Second cousin? How can that be? After all, if Zach (the eldest child of my cousin John) is my second cousin, then his children would be my third cousins and so on and so forth. That being the case, though, how do you account for all those mountain people who marry their fourth cousins and produce offspring who fall down all the time? Are the Clampetts really marrying relatives four rungs down the generational ladder?
A quick Wikipedia search has clarified some things. Contrary to popular belief, a second cousin is not the child of one's first cousin. The aforementioned Zach is my first cousin once removed: that is, he is one generation removed from my first cousin on the same generational plane as myself. A first cousin (John, father of Zach) is a relative stemming from a common set of grandparents; in order to be second cousins, the common ancestor for two people increases to the great-grandparents. Furthermore, third cousins have a common set of great-great-grandparents and so on and so forth. Therefore, no matter how many children John has, they will never be any more than my first cousins, just various levels removed.
Simply put, my Xth Cousin Y removed is a relative stemming from a common set of ancestors X+1 generations back (first for grandparents, second for great-grandparents etc.), Y generations below me. Therefore, dear world, I'm glad we've clarified this admittedly mind-boggling system, and would appreciate it if we could avoid confusing the situation further.