brothers or siblings?

Hi,

Liza has one brother and one sister.
Can I say?
Liza has two brothers or the word brothers can only be related to males.

Should I say Liz has two siblings?

Thanks

A brother is a male sibling.

That's mean saying brothers is wrong when I am talking about one sister and one brother.

Arara said:

That'[STRIKE]s[/STRIKE] means saying 'brothers' is wrong when I am talking about one sister and one brother.

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Clearly! Your sister is not male.

See also the answers to beachboy's question in the Similar Threads below.

You appear to have no single word in Italian for 'brothers and sisters', Arara.

Rover

Arara said:

That's mean saying brothers is wrong when I am talking about one sister and one brother.

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How would saying Liza has two sisters sound? Neither sentence works- sisters aren't brothers and brothers aren't sisters. :up:

Gilnetter's choices cover the ground: 'Either Liz has two siblings, or, Liz has a brother and a sister.' Bear in mind, though, that if you use the first option you'll run the risk of being mistaken for an anthropology text-book. ;-) Colloquial British English just doesn't have a sexless option.

b

PS Similarly 'uncles and aunts'.

After seeing a few threads that mention siblings, I've come to the conclusion that the word is simply more common in the US. I find it very normal to mention siblings and I know I've others use the word in very casual settings. You'll even hear "sibs" as shorthand.

It's not that common in BrE.

Barb_D said:

After seeing a few threads that mention siblings, I've come to the conclusion that the word is simply more common in the US. I find it very normal to mention siblings and I know I've others use the word in very casual settings. You'll even hear "sibs" as shorthand.

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Yes, I started saying 'Colloquial English', but then thought maybe I should add 'British'. Good job I did

b

Tdol said:

It's not that common in BrE.

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It's quite common in the world of teaching.

5jj said:

It's quite common in the world of teaching.

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:up: Hadn't thought of that - a school's entrance policy will probably mention 'siblings in previous intakes'. And it's common in the collocation 'sibling rivalry' (as is one other collocation with a 'sociological' feel - 'perr pressure'.)

b

BobK said:

'perr pressure'.

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Typo - it's 'peer pressure'.

When my cat wants me to feed her and I don't want to get up, she applies purr pressure.

But anyway, like I said, it's not that weird to casually use "siblings" here. "My siblings and I are planning a surprise party for my parents' 50th anniversary." That doesn't sound pedantic or scholarly.

Barb_D said:

When my cat wants me to feed her and I don't want to get up, she applies purr pressure.

But anyway, like I said, it's not that weird to casually use "siblings" here. "My siblings and I are planning a surprise party for my parents' 50th anniversary." That doesn't sound pedantic or scholarly.

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As an only child, I have never had the need to utter such a sentence. However, my gut feeling is that the use of "siblings" becomes more appropriate the higher the number of siblings.

If I had two sisters, two brothers or one of each, I would probably say "My sisters and I are planning ...", "My brothers and I are planning ..." and "My brother and sister and I are planning ..."

However, if I had two sisters and three brothers, then I think I would be more likely to use "My siblings and I are planning ..."

Barb_D said:

When my cat wants me to feed her and I don't want to get up, she applies purr pressure.

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This must be a purr-fect way for her to gain your attention. :-D

emsr2d2 said:

...
However, if I had two sisters and three brothers, then I think I would be more likely to use "My siblings and I are planning ..."

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I'd raise the bar a bit; If, like my father, you had 9 siblings, maybe the word wouldn't sound over-formal. But I have 3 sisters and 1.5 brothers, and I I've always called them 'my brothers and sisters' (with appropriate epithets and synonyms from time to time ;-)).

b

I know what you mean but I'm surprised no-one else has queried the fact that you have 1.5 brothers!

emsr2d2 said:

I know what you mean but I'm surprised no-one else has queried the fact that you have 1.5 brothers!

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Perhaps we all immediately realised that he had a half-brother.

All of us? Even the learners whose language does not use the term half-brother. If so, that's fantastic!