An interesting thing I didn't know until today

[ursus arctos]

I cannot express how much of an understatement the first part of that is.

Praying before the Black Madonna had already been Taylorised in 1984.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_...%C4%99stochowa

[Satchmo Distel]

Seems to have accelerated under John Paul II for obvious reasons. Also venerated in parts of Ukraine that used to be in Poland

https://czestochowa.us/

[ursus arctos]

It never was not big (even we have a Polish copy on the wall), but became much more open and encouraged by the state under John Paul

Under PiS, it has become an essential part of the Reactionary State/Church Complex

[Satchmo Distel]

Shaggy (Scooby Doo character) - real name is Norville

Shaggy (Jamaican singer) - real name is Orville

[Patrick Thistle]

In Faroese there are different words for aunt depending on whether the person is your mother's sister or your father's sister.

[DCI Harry Batt]

What about if they are your mother's sister's wife?

[Mr Delicieux]

In Swedish, your grandparents, uncles and aunts have different words for each side of the fam.
On the Dads side it goes:
Grandfather: Farfar
Grandmother: Farmor
Uncle: Farbror
Auntie: Faster

Mums side:
Grandfather: Morfar
Grandmother: Mormor
Uncle: Morbror
Auntie: Moster

[delicatemoth]

The phantom Soviet Everest expedition of 1952, the secret Sino-Soviet Everest reconaissance expedition of 1958 and the cancelled Sino-Soviet Everest expedition of 1959.

https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Con...%20Everest.pdf

[Hot Pepsi]

In Swedish, your grandparents, uncles and aunts have different words for each side of the fam.
On the Dads side it goes:
Grandfather: Farfar
Grandmother: Farmor
Uncle: Farbror
Auntie: Faster

Mums side:
Grandfather: Morfar
Grandmother: Mormor
Uncle: Morbror
Auntie: Moster

Handy

[Lymeswold Snork]

In Swedish, your grandparents, uncles and aunts have different words for each side of the fam.
On the Dads side it goes:
Grandfather: Farfar
Grandmother: Farmor
Uncle: Farbror
Auntie: Faster

Mums side:
Grandfather: Morfar
Grandmother: Mormor
Uncle: Morbror
Auntie: Moster

Pleasantly logical.

[Sam]

My adult friend had a similar experience with the seemingly popular German town of Ausfahrt, which several people were leaving the motorway to visit.

When we were in Berlin, each time we saw a sign for the Hauptbahnhof (which was often, because we were staying not far from the centre) my girlfriend would read it out loud because she liked the sound of the word. As I might have mentioned once or twice, she's good with languages so while she struggled with German (and didn't need to do much since English speakers were in ready supply anyway and my secondary school German somehow returned to me when it came to asking for directions and suchlike) I didn't think much of this. Until we headed to the Hauptbahnhof in order to leave the city and head to Prague.

As we walked up to it she looked up above the entrance and pointed. 'There's that word again! "Hauptbahnhof"!' And I looked at her and went, 'Yes, of course it says that. This is the Hauptbahnhof.' Her, confused: 'Wait ... what does Hauptbahnhof mean?' Me: 'Main railway station.' At which point she fell about laughing at herself. She'd spent four days thinking it meant square or street or something, and that that was why it was on so many street signs.

[Balderdasha]

In China, there are even more specific family words depending on family hierarchy. So there is a different word for older brother (gege), younger brother (didi), older sister (jiejie), younger sister (meimei), and then you end up in the territory of "mother's older sister" vs "father's younger brother" and there are different words for in-law's so you'll get "mother's younger brother's wife" so there are a minimum of 16 words for everything that would just be covered by "aunt and uncle" in English. In big families, this ends up being differentiated further by number "mother's second youngest sister's husband", etc.

They find English utterly baffling as how on earth is anyone supposed to know who they're talking about?

[lambers]

They find English utterly baffling as how on earth is anyone supposed to know who they're talking about?

Use names? I guess you can still have confusion if both parents have, say, a brother called Robert. But that situation does at least allow you to double-down when saying "...and Bob's your uncle."

[ad hoc]

Hungarian doesn;t have a word that specifically means "brother" or "sister". It has a word that means sibling, a word that means older sister, a word that means older brother, a word that means younger sister, and a word that means younger brother

[ChrisJ]

I'll see your Swedish/Chinese kinship terms and raise you Hindi family words (HT Piyush Maurya):

Own Family
father पापा/पिता (pāpā/pitā)
mother मम्मी/माँ (mam'mī/mām̐)
husband पति (pati)
wife पत्नी (patnī)
children बच्चे (baccē)
son बेटा/पुत्र (bēṭā/putra)
daughter बेटी/पुत्री (bēṭī/putrī)
younger brother (छोटा) भाई ((chōṭā) bhā'ī)
elder brother भैया/(बड़ा) भाई (bhaiyā/(baṛā) bhā'ī)
younger sister (छोटी) बहन ((chōṭī) bahana)
elder sister दीदी/(बड़ी) बहन (dīdī/(baṛī) bahana)

Father's side
grandfather (father's father) दादा (dādā)
grandmother (father's mother) दादी (dādī)
uncle (father's younger brother) चाचा (cācā)
uncle (father's elder brother) ताऊ/बड़े पापा (tā'ū/baṛē pāpā)
uncle (father's sister's husband) फूफा (phūphā)
aunt (father's younger brother's wife) चाची (cācī)
aunt (father's elder brother's wife) ताई/बड़ी मम्मी (tā'ī/baṛī mam'mī)
aunt (father's sister) बुआ (bu'ā)

Mother's side
grandfather (mother's father) नाना (nānā)
grandmother (mother's mother) नानी (nānī)
uncle (mother's brother) मामा (māmā)
uncle (mother's sister's husband) मौसा (mausā)
aunt (mother's brother's wife) मामी (māmī)
aunt (mother's sister) मौसी (mausī)

Brother's side
aunt (younger brother's wife) भयो (bhayō)
aunt (elder brother's wife) भाभी (bhābhī)
nephew (brother's son) भतीजा (bhatījā)
niece (brother's daughter) भतीजी (bhatījī)

Sister's side
brother-in-law (younger sister's husband) बहनोई (bahanō'ī)
brother-in-law (elder sister's husband) जीजा (jījā)
nephew (sister's son) भांजा (bhān̄jā)
niece (sister's daughter) भांजी (bhān̄jī)

Husband's side
father-in-law (husband's father) ससुर (sasura)
mother-in-law (husband's mother) सास (sāsa)
brother-in-law (husband's younger brother) देवर (dēvara)
brother-in-law (husband's elder brother) जेठ/भसुर (jēṭha/bhasura)
brother-in-law's wife (husband's younger brother's wife) देवरानी (dēvarānī)
brother-in-law's wife (husband's elder brother's wife) जेठानी/भाभी (jēṭhānī/bhābhī)
sister-in-law (husband's sister) ननद (nanada)
sister-in-law's husband (husband's sister's husband) नंदोई (nandō'ī)

Wife's side
father-in-law (wife's father) ससुर (sasura)
mother-in-law (wife's mother) सास (sāsa)
brother-in-law (wife's younger brother) साला (sālā)
brother-in-law (wife's elder brother) साले साहब (sālē sāhaba)
brother-in-law's wife (wife's brother's wife) सलहज (salahaja)
sister-in-law (wife's sister) साली (sālī)
sister-in-law's husband (wife's sister's husband) साढ़ू (sāṛhū)

Son's family
daughter-in-law (son's wife) बहू (bahū)
grandson (son's son) पोता (pōtā)
granddaugther (son's daughter) पोती (pōtī)

Daughter's family
son-in-law (daughter's husband) दामाद (dāmāda)
grandson (daughter's son) नाती (nātī)
granddaugther (daughter's daughter) नतिनी (natinī)

Other relatives
cousin (father's brother's son) चचेरा भाई (cacērā bhā'ī)
cousin (father's brother's daughter) चचेरी बहन (cacērī bahana)
cousin (father's sister's son) फुफेरा भाई (phuphērā bhā'ī)
cousin (father's sister's daughter) फुफेरी बहन (phuphērī bahana)
cousin (mother's brother's son) ममेरा भाई (mamērā bhā'ī)
cousin (mother's brother's daughter) ममेरी बहन (mamērī bahana)
cousin (mother's sister's son) मौसेरा भाई (mausērā bhā'ī)
cousin (mother's sister's daughter) मौसेरी बहन (mausērī bahana)

https://www.omniglot.com/language/kinship/hindi.htm

[Sporting]

There are so many cases where various languages could be more concise. I have two sisters, both of whom are younger than me. If I want to refer to the elder of the two there's no pithy way of saying it.

[DCI Harry Batt]

There are so many cases where various languages could be more concise. I have two sisters, both of whom are younger than me. If I want to refer to the elder of the two there's no pithy way of saying it.

You want a single word that means "the older of two sisters, both of who are younger than me"?

[Sporting]

You want a single word that means "the older of two sisters, both of who are younger than me"?

Yes. Can you invent one?

[Balderdasha]

Use names? I guess you can still have confusion if both parents have, say, a brother called Robert. But that situation does at least allow you to double-down when saying "...and Bob's your uncle."

But other people like to know who you're talking about. So if I say to a stranger "My aunt Jane" they don't know what relation Jane is to me. Chinese people like to know who Aunt Jane is to me. You use their names too.

[Balderdasha]

You want a single word that means "the older of two sisters, both of who are younger than me"?

There are words for this in Chinese.

Jiejie is oldest sister
Er (2) jie is second oldest sister
San (3) jie is third oldest sister

Etc

There's also oldest maternal aunt, second oldest maternal aunt, etc

[Balderdasha]

https://blog.tutorabcchinese.com/man...ves-in-chinese

[DCI Harry Batt]

There are words for this in Chinese.

Jiejie is oldest sister
Er (2) jie is second oldest sister
San (3) jie is third oldest sister

Etc

There's also oldest maternal aunt, second oldest maternal aunt, etc

But does it make clear that both sisters are younger than Sporting?

[DCI Harry Batt]

Me, I'd be happy enough with "family member" as the generic noun, and a name to go with it.

[Balderdasha]

But does it make clear that both sisters are younger than Sporting?

Yes, Sanjie is "the third of the sisters who are older than me", Sanmei is "the third of the sisters who are younger than me".

[Balderdasha]

So if sporting has two sisters who are younger than him he has a meimei and an ermei.