To think I've broken my brain?

[DoJo]

If a woman marries her sister's husband, and they already have children (who would be both step-siblings and cousins), and then they had another baby between them, that child would have half-siblings who were cousins and step-siblings but would that child be its own cousin?

Jeremy Kyle

When imagining the scenario I did decide that one family would have a son called Jeremy and the other a son called Kyle and it would be the source of much hilarity at family gatherings.

No, you can never be your own cousin as you have to have a seperate entity to be a ‘cousin of’

Imagine the last child is the only child in the scenario - no cousins.

Also...I don’t think the child would have step siblings?

They’d all be half?

The original set of children would be step siblings to one another and cousins. They would all be half siblings to the last baby

This is hurting my brain 🤣🤣

Sorry, I meant the child would have half-siblings who were step-siblings to one another. Also, the original children would have full siblings, half-siblings and step-siblings who were also each others' cousins, and their step-parent would be their uncle/aunt.

I've actually seen a scenario like this before though this had never crossed my mind. Surely both the women and her sister's children would all be half siblings to the child but also cousins as some of them are their auntie's children. How would the child be it's own cousin, that bit is really confusing me

Half siblings and cousins
Not that uncommon in ye olden days

How would the child be it's own cousin, that bit is really confusing me

Just that its parents would have been brother and sister in law and its siblings are each others' cousins, so in its role as half-sibling to its mother's children, it is a cousin to its father's children and vice versa.

I'm sure it happens relatively often, but for some reason it seems particularly brain busting tonight!

Ah, I once taught in a school in a town where nobody ever seemed to leave, and you often got ”X is Y's half brother. And cousin” situations. Never quite got my head around it.

I know a family like this where a man had children with two ladies who were sisters so the kids are both siblings and cousins. I guess technically you could be your own cousin if your dad is also your uncle - but to avoid invest it would only be uncle by marriage (so your dad leaves your mum and marries your aunt, this becoming your uncle - your uncles kids are your cousins but your uncles kid is also you)

This explains everything.

I know of a family where the mum passed away when both children were young and the dad married her sister who also then passed away at a relatively young age.

I’ve missed the point of the thread as the second marriage didn’t produce any off spring but it does happen!

I know a lady whose sister passed away after an illness. They were both late thirties at the time and both married with DC.
A few weeks (literally) after her sister died, that woman left her husband and kids for the sister's husband.

I know someone who married her ex's brother and had children with him as well as with the ex. I found the whole thing highly creepy. It isn't common, but it also isn't unknown.

@LittleCandle, you've just reminded me of a woman I know who used to go out with a guy and a few years later married his IDENTICAL TWIN!!!
Now that's Jeremy Kyle fodder for sure.

The new baby wouldnt be cousin to their half-siblings, even though their half-siblings are cousins to each other (except the ones that are full-siblings of course). To be a cousin you need to be the child of your cousin's parent's sibling, but this baby's parents are ex-spouses of siblings not siblings.

Obvious really.

How does the sister feel about this situation? Presume she wouldn't get a wedding invite to her sister's marriage to her ex husband (Unless she's dead, is she dead? That would make it less awkward. Tough for her children though.)

It made my head hurt to read these replies, because it’s very confusing and I’ve never thought about it in this much depth, mainly because, well it’s enough to break your brain. But, oh my goodness, basically, you have described my family

My Dad was originally married to my Mums sister. They had one child. After they separated and he married my Mother, they went on to have me. Even more confusing the first wife (my Aunt) had other children prior to that from a first marriage. So yes, I think, the exact scenario you described. Totally understand the Jeremy Kyle references, but you definitely wouldn’t think that if you met any of them/us! It’s very strange and the resulting changed relationships have not been positive sadly.

Oh and to answer one part, it’s always felt a bit like ‘sibling’ trumps ‘cousin’ in my mind, so never really thought of the sibling as a cousin, although technically they are both. (Don’t really think of her as anything to be honest but that’s how I’ve made sense of it) As sibling feels higher ranking, if that makes any sense, at all.

Also. Although my Dad then became the siblings ‘uncle’ by being married to her ‘Aunt’, as her parent, that trumps ‘uncle’, again, in my mind.

Ugh.