The new Kinbank database lets you explore the global diversity of family and kinship terms. Compiled by an international team led by anthropologist Sam Passmore from The Australian National University, it’s providing new insights into kinship...
A listener shares a family expression to quiet kids down so the parents can speak. This is part of a complete episode.
A caller who grew up with 10 brothers and sisters recalls that whenever sibling squabbles erupted, her parents would intervene with a cheery, “Do you think the rain will hurt the rhubarb?” The children were expected to respond with:...
nosybody n.— «Which leaves one as a pretty lonely number for some here at Fuddruckers, who complain that they face ever more pressure—from relatives, nosybodies, and their own children—to produce siblings.» —“Company for an Only...
monoprogeny n.— «Three of my closest friends are also only children and, now in our mid-30s, we have been supporting and feuding with each other in a proto-sibling way since meeting at university. We realised this a few years ago, when a...