brothers or siblings?

[Rover_KE]

'Siblings' includes half-brothers, half-sisters, step-brothers and step-sisters.

Rover

 

[BobK]

:up: ...But till I was 3 or 4 it meant nothing to me. Bill was my brother; at first I wondered why he called my mother 'Aunty Joan'.

b

 

[5jj]

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

UE members are fantastic people!




I may live to regret saying that. ;-)

 

[BobK]

'Siblings' includes half-brothers, half-sisters, step-brothers and step-sisters.

Rover

That so? I don't know why - maybe a total misapprehension on my part - but I thought that siblings had to share the same nest (at the time of their birth). My half-brother and I didn't even share the same womb! ;-)

b

 

[emsr2d2]

'Siblings' includes half-brothers, half-sisters, step-brothers and step-sisters.

Rover

That is indeed interesting. I have always taken "siblings" to mean full siblings (share both parents) or fully adopted children (again, the same two people who are your birth parents are the adoptive parents of the other child).

I would have used half-siblings or step-siblings. In fact, I don't know why I said "I would have used ...". I do use it. My father re-married and I now have a stepsister and a stepbrother. If I refer to them collectively, I say "I have two step-siblings".

 

[Barb_D]

Or you can save yourself the trouble of specifying and just say "the whole fam damily!" ;-)

 

[emsr2d2]

Or you can save yourself the trouble of specifying and just say "the whole fam damily!" ;-)

In my situation, there are two problems with that. One is that, without wishing to sound churlish, I don't consider my stepmother or my step-siblings etc to be "family". The other is that the "whole family" (on that side) would amount to an awful lot of people. My stepmother has two children - her son is married with three sons and her daughter is married with a son and two daughters, by two different fathers. There are various hangers-on, mostly relatives of the wife and husband of her son and daughter respectively.

My "proper" side of the family is so much simpler. I'm an only child. I have two parents, three aunts, two uncles, and four cousins, none of whom are married or have any children. Easy!

 

[charliedeut]

Or you can save yourself the trouble of specifying and just say "the whole fam damily!" ;-)

Pobody's nerfect :lol:

 

[Barb_D]

I once worked with a guy and in our work, we encountered the name of another man. My coworker said, "Oh, him." I said "You know him?" And he said "Yes. He is the son of the woman my father is married to." I had to think for a moment and said "So, he's your step-brother?" And he said "I prefer to think of him as the son of the woman who married my father."

So you're not the only one!