I called my Great-Aunts & Uncles just "Uncle" or "Aunt" - who else here did?

Hell I called my mom's cousins "Uncle" or "Aunt"

For me there were 2 main reasons behind this. First, my mother was an only child, so when we went visiting her side of the family it would be her cousins or her Aunt/Uncle. Out of respect for them I called them the same thing. Sure a few times we were corrected but they also felt it was a sign of respect to even just use those titles with people 'technically' not my Aunt or Uncle.

And the second reason was because my parents moved away from where they were born & raised. I had very few close relatives living near me other than my dad's uncle and 2 of his cousins. So naturally these were the relatives outside my grandparents, that we would see the most. And again, we would call them Aunt/Uncle because of respect for these people who were good to us.

So if I were to talk about any of these non "Uncles" or "Aunts", without a doubt I would called them with the "Uncle" or "Aunt" title. About 8 years ago when my grandfather passed away my one "Aunt" asked me about why I kept calling her "Aunt". I told her she was like a sister to my mom, an only child, plus she was a big help with my grandfather during his illness that led up to his death. I just felt calling her Aunt was the right thing to do even if she was just my mother's cousin.

Now mind you, I'm not sure what the protocol is for how far back you go but I do think that I'm not required my 5th cousin, once-gained an 'Uncle' - god forbid I had to call him President for 4 years let alone Uncle George (I'm related to the Bushes very distantly and I was refering to Bush Sr.)

My grandmother had 13 siblings. I called them aunt this or uncle that. And I called their children cousins.

Until someone ripped into Obama for calling his great-uncle as an Uncle.

It's bullshit but it's the low mentality for someone to call this 'misleading' when it's something we have all done.

we called Uncle Bill.

Aunt Millie... yeah, thats what I called her. You are right.

To this day I call my great aunts & great uncles, aunts & uncles!

He will always be "Uncle Marvin" to me. He's cantankerous as hell and can whip out emails faster than the kids can.

:-)

I thought the nit-picking on that yesterday was totally pathetic..

My kids do to...it just seems wrong to call an elder by just their first name. And all the "greats" get the great lopped off of whatever title it is.

I remember a friend of our family insisted I just call her by her last name and to this day I still call her Mrs. <lastname>.

And when I moved into my new house my next door neighbor, who is like 80s years old, introduced herself as Mrs. <lastname> and I've called her that ever since. But ironically she met my mother and told my mom to call her by her first name.

my parents are my "Aunts and Uncles."

It is as much a term of endearment instead of ancestry.

Sometimes we say PLAY AUNT or Uncle.

and aunts still living. Do we have to say Hi great-great Uncle Bob?

and to do it, well it sounds kinda silly

Our grandparents were sibs. I was just today reminiscing with him about his grandfather, my grandma's brother. And yes, I referred to him as "Uncle Bert". Not "Great Uncle Bert". Just "Uncle Bert". Doesn't everyone?

:scared:

I'm my own 3rd cousin once removed

My grandmother's aunt was still just auntie for me the same as for mom and grandma

.

I would think it's the latter. Sure I may be a liberal but why take the chance

Of course I called my great aunts and uncles "aunt" and "uncle"! I don't know what else you would do, really.

(Older cousins can sometimes be strange - my husband has older cousins - so to my kids they seem like they *ought* to be aunts and uncles, you know? Why am I calling that 60 yo by his first name, and the other one Uncle FirstName?)

There are also family friends that I grew up calling "Aunt" or "Uncle". My kids do the same with a few very close friends. It's a sign of that feeling of family, even when no biological connection exists.

as "Grand-ma"!


My Dad called his great-grandmother "Nanny" !

His 93-year-old mother is also Grandma to me. It's pretty standard.

It was kind of a running gag growing up.

Whether they were great aunts and uncles or not.

And all my cousins were cousins; I didn't refer to them as second cousins, etc.

cept my grandparents of course.

My generation or younger are cousins, even if they were really 2nd cousins or 3rd cousins.

My clan is too big to get technical.

I also call my Great aunts and uncles, "aunt" and "uncle",and all my cousins, no matter how many times removed, "cousin" too.

We made no differentiation in my family between "greats" and "regulars." And the tradition continues to this day. I became a 'great aunt' a little over a month ago, and the baby will call me "Aunt No Surrender." My niece doesn't even call me aunt. I'm just "No Surrender" to her. I was 18 when she was born and she's always been more like a sister to me anyway.

One of my favorite aunts when I was growing up was actually a great aunt, but she was always 'Aunt Ida' to me. She didn't need to be called "Great Aunt Ida" to know she was great.

I had an Uncle James who definitely wasn't my mom's brother. I THINK he was my grandma's brother but, honestly, he may not have even been "really" related to me. I never paid much attention to that stuff as a kid.

So definitely maybe.

Probably.

I think.

Every uncle is "uncle," no matter how great they are. Same with Cousins; no 2nd, 3rd, or removed.

In many languages, there are a variety of meanings for words such as "mother" and "father."

A.Zanne and U.Paul

Great Aunt or Great Uncle were just called "Aunt or "Uncle".
Cousins 1st 2nd and so forth were all called "Cousin"

"Uncle Walter" was in fact my great-uncle. But that didn't stop me, and in fact people like my mother, who was not related to him at all, from calling him Uncle Walter.

and his two brothers "ton-ton", i.e., French for a loving version of uncle.

My children call their Great Aunt (my mother's sister) Auntie Ginette, and my first cousin (their 2nd cousin), Cousin Anita.

One of those funny family things where somehow that got stuck to him as a nickname (probably due to lots of nieces and nephews) and everyone just called him that. When I was a very young child it took me a while to figure out the guy in the stories was my great-grandfather and not one of her uncles or great-uncles! My mom just says, well, that's what everyone always called him!

Both when speaking about them, and when speaking to them directly. My grandmother had numerous aunts and uncles still living into the 1950s. And they were every one dear to me (to us all) and addressed as "Aunt Bess" and "Uncle Len" and so on.

Wat

The great-aunts were called "Cetka" and the great-uncles were called "Cetos". Just Cetka or Cetos, not Cetka Mary, or Cetos John.....I miss them all too :cry:.

(His real name was Grace. I don't know why he was given a girl's name. :shrug:) I had another great uncle who was called "Uncle Tommy".

calls me Aunt (mostly, when she wants to watch people's surprised reactions)and my young great nieces and nephews call me Aunt.
Actually most say Auntie, but it's not dependent on being a niece/nephew or great niece/nephew.

whether they were Great aunts & uncles or just plain aunts & uncles or cousins ... there was no formality in my family. :D

I'm not even sure is an "uncle"! :D

He is my Mom's cousin - I have no idea what that makes him to me, in genealogical terms - but he has been Uncle Bud since I could talk.

My mom by circumstance ended up an only child. Whomever she called Aunt Hannah, Uncle Mark, Uncle Bill, Aunt Irene, Uncle Frank, etc I also called them that.

I was probably in to my teens when I found out why people were called aunt and uncle. But I still called them that and even though they are all dead now they still hold that title in memories.

in person, I call them "aunt" or "uncle", unless they prefer the "great" in addition; usually it's too much of a mouthful.

when referring to them in conversation, I usually add the "great" to make it clearer who I'm talking about.

He fought in World War I, and he didn't talk about it to us kids at all.

I'm from Louisiana...can you tell by the names? Can you say "Beulah Land?" Ha!

Of course it is the norm, as far as I know, to refer to great aunts and uncles as aunts and uncles.

What does that make us, some kind of cousins? Well, she's way older than me, so I call her Aunt, as does just about everybody around. :D

Your mom & she were first cousins.

dg

They must be special or something. :eyes:

I most of the time I call mt great aunts and uncles just aunt and uncle when I address or refer to them.

Always called Aunt Louise & Uncle Tex by those names, even though Aunt Louise was my grandmother's sister & Uncle Tex was her husband. BTW, I always ran around telling folks about all the work my Uncle Tex did for the Army in WWII in Sydney....turns out he was stationed in Darwin. Oh & Tex was from Louisiana. Go figure. Guess I can't run for president now, huh? :cry:

I accord them their fuller title.

No differentiation for greats

because all my real grandparents were dead.

So beat me up over it.

family with older siblings who married young and had babies and the babies had babies and so it goes).

They better not call me great aunt, they know better. :silly:

though most believe I am a great aunt.

NT

just "aunt" or "uncle". I knew the difference, but just lumped them all in as aunts and uncles. We all did that, in my family. I can't conceive of calling someone "great-uncle Ted" or "great-aunt Irma". That just sounds bizarre, to me.

uncles and we called our great-aunts & uncles just aunt & uncle. (Lots of aunts & uncles in that sentence!!)

I come from a very large family and a lot of my great aunts and uncles are all gone know. All the great aunts and uncles were simply called aunts and uncles.

They're your uncles. My Uncle Bruce is actually my mom's cousin. My Aunt Lil is my grandfather's aunt. My mom's coworkers are my aunts.