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Feb 15, 2010 6:20 am
I was visiting my grandparents over the weekend and my grandmother asked a great question: Is there a term for a grown (adult) child?
2 Replies
Feb 15, 2010 12:54 pm
Y'know, someone should really put together a list of these things for which English doesn't have a useful word:
- a third-person singular pronoun that refers to a person of either sex
- a mature equivalent of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" that neither implies too much or too little
- the in-laws of one's in-laws
- a plural of "only child", to simplify saying that neither of your parents had siblings
- a parent whose child has died (we have "orphan" and "widow(er)" for similar roles)
- an analogous term to "avuncular" for something that is "aunt-like"
- a single bovine creature whose sex is unspecified (best I've heard offered is "cattlebeast")
Feb 25, 2010 3:18 pm
Single bovine:
How about "beef"? I've run across references to X head of beef. Also Beeves.