Who is your “SIL”?

[Raincloudsonasunnyday]

Is it:

1. your DH’s sister
2. your brother’s wife
3. your DH’s brother’s wife
4. 1 and 2 only
5. all of 1, 2 and 3?

Having a not-quite-an-argument with my DH.

They are technically your DH's SILs and not yours.

All of them

1 and 2 only
My brother’s wife is my sister-in-law
My sister’s husband is my brother-in-law
My DH’s brother is my brother-in-law, but his wife is not my sister-in-law.

Well there we go. Pretty definitive.

My brothers wives (3of them).
My husband's brother's wife.

Not according to the dictionary definition (and common sense!)

To answer the OP, all three, because I'm close to all my SILs. I'm blessed with four of them - of various types!

Yes she is.

https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199666317.001.0001/acref-9780199666317-e-3484#:~:text=means%20(1)%20one's%20wife's%20or,in%2Dlaw.%20...

That’s my definition.

I currently have no SIL - technically DH has a female sibling but she is NC and absolutely batshit so she doesn’t exist as far as we are concerned. She may not actually be alive, she lives in another country and speaks another language, apparently in some
form of cult commune so we’d have no idea.

He also has a NC brother but we have no idea if he has any partner nor any way of knowing either. We have attempted contact but to no avail.

My absolutely vile MIL (who unfortunately does exist) moved abroad with her youngest children and abandoned my DH at age 15. He never heard from his siblings again (35 years on) and she refuses to allow any contact. They didn’t get in touch when FIL died so there seems to be no chance they ever will. So far we haven’t told DD they exist as it is too hard to explain to a preschooler.

My brother has no wife or long term partner but he’s the only route to a SIL one day perhaps. Shame really!

@maimeo

ehy not?

I have a brother & Dh has a brother, but if DH had a sister - 4

Not 3 or 5 as I usually say BIL and his wife.

All of them.

1 and 2 only although there are no No 1s in our family as we both only have brothers. For no 3 I refer to them as DH's SILs. Because they aren't actually my SILs. Equally I'd describe second cousin's as my mum's cousin or whatever. But I do regard them all
as being SILs or cousins, so it's a bit silly, I just don't like using inaccurate descriptions.

1 and 2 only, though I will often group 3 in as well.

In Spanish ( other languages are available) the wife of your DH’s brother has a different “relational” name than the wife of
your brother.

All of them!

My husband's, brother's wife, has the same name as me, eg Mrs Notjustamum28, so how are we not SILs?

Working my way through these (have to concentrate!) but yes of course women can marry women. So sorry, should have been fully inclusive 😳

All of them

All of them

All of them. Husbands sister, brothers wives and partners. None of them a hardship to bear!

I used to think all of them were, but one of my ex’s thought differently and I came to agree with him.

I don’t have a SIL, but my sister’s husband is my BIL. However, BIL’s brothers are not my BILs and their lovely mum isn’t my MIL.

If your dc call your DH's brother and his wife 'Uncle' and 'Auntie' then as far as I'm concerned she's a SIL.

You don't have to be blood-related to an in-law.

Sorry that’s not how it works.
If you aren’t married they are not your in Laws.

Because you are her "brother's wife!"

And SIL is a reciprocal relationship i.e if Jenny is Claire's SIL, Claire is Jenny's SIL.

1 and 2 only.