I got into an argument with some coworkers for calling my biological brother’s (then) ex-wife’s brother my brother-in-law.
So I agree with you, but I guess other people are a bit bigger on semantics than we are.
You have to be married to have a mother-in-law or father-in-law but you don't have to be married to have a brother-in-law or sister-in-law
Submitted 6 hours ago by FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca to showerthoughts@lemmy.world
Comments
Zahille7@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 6 hours ago
Your brother’s ex-wife is your ex-sister-in-law. Are there people who don’t call their siblings spouse their in-laws?
feannag@sh.itjust.works 2 hours ago
Looks like this case wasn’t sibling’s spouse. It’s sibling’s spouse’s sibling. In the US, they should not be technically your in-law. But I don’t think it’s weird to use it here and kinda surprised people cared.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
I called her my sister-in-law at the time. It was when I called her brother my brother-in-law that some people kinda took offense.
It was weird.
DioramaOfShit@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Thats hella deep
AmazingAwesomator@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
isnt my brother’s wife’s mother my mother-in-law?
FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 5 hours ago
They’re your brother’s mother-in-law. I would never think to call my sister’s in-laws my in-laws.
FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 6 hours ago
Although I’ve heard that in French, stepmother and mother-in-lawcare the same word. Which I can see the logic behind. One is your spouse’s parent and the other is your parent’s spouse
neidu3@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
I’m not married and I never was. And on paper I still have in-laws.
I met this girl around 2008 and we became friends with benefits. Suddenly 17 years later we have mortgage, kids, pets, and everything else together. Some might go as far as saying that it’s starting to get serious between us.
Anyway, due to having had shared address and offspring were legally considered married for all practical purposes.
Rhaedas@fedia.io 5 hours ago
Some places are like that, and it makes sense. Others do not, and if there isn't some formal paper connecting the two then they don't get the benefits or penalties of making such commitment. I have a relative that lost their home of 35+ years because when the partner passed there was no mention in a will or any document of them contributing. Suddenly it wasn't their place to live.
foodandart@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
My mom is in a similar boat.
She’s been in Hawaii for decades, living with a guy and they’re not married and she’s not on the will for the property that he owns - even though she’s paid the taxes for it on and off over the years…
I have asked her why he can’t set that up to take care of her if anything happens to him and it’s just that he’s lazy and thinks - like a lot of people do - that he’s going to last forever.
I worry about it, and mention it often but the answer is always the same.
Am like WTF mom, he’s no spring chicken - neither are you - what ARE you two thinking?
jqubed@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Interesting; I’ve read that more and more jurisdictions are ending the concept of common law marriage. The idea is it existed in a time when a legal marriage was harder to get. Nowadays in those areas a legal marriage is easy to get so the thought is if those people never legally married it’s because they didn’t want to, not because they couldn’t, so there’s no reason to have a marriage forced onto the couple.