This is My Cousin…

Country Grammar

Have you ever given much thought to the word “cousin”? I have been thinking about it a lot lately because, frankly, I like the word. I mean, it’s a pretty cool word as far as words go. Just say it with me one time, “Cousin”. Kinda flows off of your tongue doesn’t it? And, I really like the shortened version. Say it with me, “Cuz”. For those of you who remember Happy Days when it was first on the air and for you young folk who have seen it on Nickelodeon, the word “Cuz” ranks right up there with the word “Fonz”. To be the Fonz is to be cool. To be called Cuz is like being intimate. It’s like a nod of approval, a warm embrace. It tells the world that what we have is special. This is my Cuz. It’s like saying, “You are my brother but this man, this man, is my Cuz.” “This my boy, we tight!”

I even like the country version of the word. Now, I’m gonna pause right here and set some folks straight. Half of y’all, and yes, I said, “Y’all,” got offended. “Why it got to be the country version? Well, I’ll tell you. The country happens to be where I grew up and where I first heard the word. “How you know you were raised in the country?” “Did your Momma tell’ya?” Duuuuuhhhhhhh! If your nearest neighbor is a big black cow, you might be country. If you have to go “Over town” to get to McDonald’s, you might be country. If your entire city operated on one traffic light, you might be country. If you stood on your porch and could see your grandma’s house, your aunt and uncle’s house, and your cousin’s house, you might be country. If you had a dog named Bob and a pig named Betsy, you might be country. If you know that dried cow dung makes a great frisbee, not only are you country, but you nasty too! J I don’t care how many times you look you will not find “Cuddin” in the dictionary! It just ain’t gonna happen. Try putting it down in a game of Scrabble. Not!!!

At the Toledo reunion in 2002 I was brutally reminded of the word “Cuddin”. In the lobby of the hotel I was talking to Martha Smith. Some kind of way I made a reference to her as “Martha” instead of “Cuddin Martha”. What did I do that for? She smacked me in the back of my head and proceeded to tell me she was Cuddin Martha, not Martha. (I love you, Cuz!) Now, I was 33 at the time. Not accustomed to being smacked in the back of the head. Worked though. Been Cuddin Martha ever since…..

This whole thing of cousins and cuddins made me think about the whole idea of a cousin. It seems that every relative that we are unsure of exactly how we are kin gets the label of cousin. I downloaded some info from the web that explains the concept of cousins, first cousins, second cousins, cousins once removed, etc. Turns out that my thinking has been wrong all of these years. For example, I thought that my first cousin’s child would be my second cousin. And, I thought that my child and my first cousin’s child would be third cousins. This is not the case. Take a look at the following chart:

Common Ancestor	Child	Grand child	Gr. Grand child	2x Gr. Grand child	3x Gr. Grand child	4x Gr. Grand child	5x Gr. Grand child	6x Gr. Grand child
Child	Sibling	Niece / Nephew	Grand Niece / Nephew	Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	2x Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	3x Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	4x Grand Niece / Nephew	5x Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew
Grand child	Niece / Nephew	First Cousin	First Cousin 1x Rem.	First Cousin 2x Rem.	First Cousin 3x Rem.	First Cousin 4x Rem.	First Cousin 5x Rem.	First Cousin 6x Rem.
Gr. Grand child	Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 1x Rem.	Second Cousin	Second Cousin 1x Rem.	Second Cousin 2x Rem.	Second Cousin 3x Rem.	Second Cousin 4x Rem.	Second Cousin 5x Rem.
2x Gr. Grand child	Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 2x Rem.	Second Cousin 1x Rem.	Third Cousin	Third Cousin 1x Rem.	Third Cousin 2x Rem.	Third Cousin 3x Rem.	Third Cousin 4x Rem.
3x Gr. Grand child	2x Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 3x Rem.	Second Cousin 2x Rem.	Third Cousin 1x Rem.	Fourth Cousin	Fourth Cousin 1x Rem.	Fourth Cousin 2x Rem.	Fourth Cousin 3x Rem.
4x Gr. Grand child	3x Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 4x Rem.	Second Cousin 3x Rem.	Third Cousin 2x Rem.	Fourth Cousin 1x Rem.	Fifth Cousin	Fifth Cousin 1x Rem.	Fifth Cousin 2x Rem.
5x Gr. Grand child	4x Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 5x Rem.	Second Cousin 4x Rem.	Third Cousin 3x Rem.	Fourth Cousin 2x Rem.	Fifth Cousin 1x Rem.	Sixth Cousin	Sixth Cousin 1x Rem.
6x Gr. Grand child	5x Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 6x Rem.	Second Cousin 5x Rem.	Third Cousin 4x Rem.	Fourth Cousin 3x Rem.	Fifth Cousin 2x Rem.	Sixth Cousin 1x Rem.	Seventh Cousin

Abbreviations:

Gr. = "Great"

Rem. = "Removed"

Note that in order to apply this chart you have to start with a common relative. Let’s plug in an example:

William Walton	Oliver Walton	Alice Walton Ingram	Eva Ingram Kennamar	Lance Bryant Kennamar
Thomas (Walton) Hawkins	Sibling	Niece / Nephew	Grand Niece / Nephew	Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew
Thomas Walton, Jr.	Niece / Nephew	First Cousin	First Cousin 1x Rem.	First Cousin 2x Rem.
James Edward Walton	Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 1x Rem.	Second Cousin	Second Cousin 1x Rem.
Dennis Walton	Gr. Grand Niece / Nephew	First Cousin 2x Rem.	Second Cousin 1x Rem.	Third Cousin

We start off with a common relative, William Walton. To see the relationship between two people, follow the top boxes down and the side boxes across. The intersection of these points is the relationship status. For example, let’s look at Dennis Walton down the left column. If you follow the boxes to the right you see that Dennis is the second cousin once removed of Eva Ingram Kennamar. Dennis is also the third cousin to Lance Kennamar. Thomas Jr. and Alice were first cousins. Eva is the first cousin once removed to Thomas Jr.

To summarize:

The children of two first cousins are called second cousins.
The children of two second cousins are called third cousins.
The quantities once, twice, etc. denote the number of generations removed from the common ancestor.

The cousins that were previously called second cousins are really first cousins once removed.
The cousins that were previously called third cousins are really second cousins.

Once I studied this chart for a minute, I realized that this “new” way of identifying cousins is a lot easier than how I was taught. Using this process and the included table made relationships much clearer.

Now, say it with me one more time, “Cousin”. But, if you just love that country grammar…..

Cuddin Trey