In other languages, for example, in spanish, you have lots of distinct words for the different relations. In arabic there are different words for your uncles or aunts depending on whether they are paternal or maternal uncles. And so let's expand beyond brother and sister to brothers and sisters in law and the broader set of relations brought in by marriage. T other languages do a better job of specifying those than english does, well yet, definitely. So in english, we have the weird suffolx in law, and we say brother in law and sister in law. french is a prefix, which is at least nicer. You can say your belle mare or your
Pakistan’s government faces an unpleasant choice between doing what’s popular and what is economically necessary, as
Imran Khan, the former prime minister, exploits widespread discontent for his own ends. Russia’s invasion is threatening
Ukraine’s unique seed bank. And why so many
languages have such a rich variety of words to describe family members and relationships. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of
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