Did you see your cousin twice removed there?

[Uncanny]

How can 'Did you see your cousin twice removed there?' be interpreted in this dialogue:

— I went to the court yesterday.
— Did you see your cousin twice removed there?

 

[probus]

First of all it is an expression very rarely if ever used in everyday speech. That said, it's a conventional way of describing genetic or familial relationship. A child of your first cousin is a first cousin once removed, so I think a grandchild of your first cousin could be said to be twice removed.

 

[Tarheel]

Assuming I was responding to a summons, I would say:

I went to court yesterday.

I would only use "first cousin once removed" if I needed to describe our familial relationship.

 

[PeterCW]

In my extended family I am called Uncle Peter by my cousins once removed and I would usually refer to them as my nieces. As @probus says the formal terms are not normally used in conversation.

 

[Skrej]

The degrees of cousinhood (first, second, third, etc.) are used sparingly in regular speech, but the amount of removal (once, twice, etc.) is very rarely used in casual conversations. Few people understand the differences well enough to use them, for one thing.

About the only time people ever bother with all this is when researching family genealogies or you're trying to establish how you're related to this person you just met at some family reunion or similar event.

As others have said, we generally tend to just lump under the catchall terms of 'cousins' (or as Peter mentioned, sometimes 'aunt/uncle'). Ergo, the response in the OP's conversation is most unnatural.

 

[Rover_KE]

— I went to the court yesterday.
— Did you see your cousin twice removed there?

Many would take it to mean 'Did you see your cousin being removed from the courtroom twice?'

In all my years (85 and counting), I've only ever used 'my [first] cousin' and 'my cousin's daughter/son'. On the very rare occasions when it's been necessary to distinguish between 'first cousin once removed' and 'second cousin', I've always had to look it up.

Most people find that specifying the exact terminology for their extended family is only necessary for legal reasons – such as the distribution of funds and property of a relative who has died intestate (a very nice earner for lawyers).

 

[tedmc]

On first reading, I understood the sentence as saying that someone was physically removed (manhandled) from court twice.