How can your cousin be your aunt??

[Bill McBlueState]

From CNN.com:

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A member of Utah's polygamous Kingston clan was sentenced Monday to a year in prison for taking a 15-year-old cousin -- who was also his aunt -- as his wife.

(http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/26/utah.polygamy.ap/index.html)

Someone please explain to me how your cousin can also be your aunt. It's probably simple, but I've been working too long today to figure this one out.

:crazy: :crazy:

[michaelbmoore]

1. I'm sorry

that's a Mensa entry question. I can't tell you. (Joke)

--Mike

[GumboYaYa]

2. I can explain it a few ways, and in fact started doing that,

but it is just so gross I deleted my message.

[Bill McBlueState]

3. it seems...

You have to have a really sketchy uncle for this to happen.

Let's leave it at that... :puke:

[rock]

4. Because bloodlines and marriage lines are different

Remember the old song, "I'm My Own Grandpa"?

[bleedingheart]

5. Egad! that is just so wrong...just so wrong....

Okay...this is how it could happen....


Mary and Joe are siblings who are about 15 years apart in age...

Mary has a daughter Katie that marries Joe.

Mary's other daughter Uma marries Joe and Katie's son Olaf


Voila!

Kids with three eyes!

[beanball]

6. Your cousin is your aunt

Only in Utah.

[NightTrain]

7. I can't offer any specifics at this time, but it involves Ted Danson.

:evilgrin:

[Solly Mack]

8. Let's see....(if you really want to know)

Two sisters marry two brothers and their kids are first cousins...and each sister is aunt to the other sister's kids. Each brother is uncle to the other brother's children...now, let's say One Aunt dies and and that Uncle marries his Niece( his dead wifes sister's child)...making the niece an aunt and step-mom to her cousins..since she's married to an uncle....Now the uncle dies...so the niece, who is also an aunt, marries a cousin( a child of her mother's sister)...who is also his aunt by marriage.


This can be accomplished with a lot of half siblings as well...just to put some distance between the branches...




My head hurts now from working through this puzzle...

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. Actually - one of my cousins IS my aunt

my mother's niece married my dad's brother. :-)

So - HA HA HA! Also made my dad his own brother's uncle.

And makes my uncle my cousin.

And makes their children my cousins, and my second cousins.

Screws up the old family tree when one tries to write it out.

[qwertyMike]

12. Do they play

Banjo?

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Don't be stereotypical

But then, since you're flying the Irish flag and since it's the Irish who gave us the Appalachian bluegrass banjo music, perhaps you weren't being stereotypical but were just having some fun. :shrug:

No, no one in my family plays banjo. Though we do all appreciate bluegrass music (I grew up watching Hee Haw for God's sake - I still think highly of Roy Clark, though that other guy I never much cared for). Surprisingly, there's only a couple of us in the family with any musical interest or skills at all. That's always surprised me, for a family with hundreds of members. I've even seen Roy Clark in concert a few times at county fairs. :-)

[qwertyMike]

14. Thank you

... another time being Irish got me out of a jam.

And yes, the Irish/Appalachian connnection is strong... I have heard accents doen there that . . .well, maybe I'll write a book.
PBS did some good stuff on the evolution of the English language a few years ago concerning Northern Iriah dialect (Elizabethan) and your part of the country.

Me, I play tin whistle.

Meanwhile - apologies.

Mike

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. My part of the country?

Do you mean NY, or WI? I would imagine NY, but also want to make sure a) you don't think I'm in WV, or b) that actaully WERE talking about WI, in which case I'd be fascinated to hear about elizabethan influence (though I doubt that's what you meant).


There are, I've heard (though I've not been in them personally) one or two areas in VA that maintain a very british-style of accent; that's never evolved into the southern twang.

And yee hah - the variations in dialects from one holler to another throughout appalachia can be amazing. Not so much any more, I'm sure, since it seems most everyone has at least some bit of mobility so they're "smushing" the accents together, but I was in WV a couple times working in the holler areas, and wow.

:wow:

I'm so fascinating with the history of that region because of the effect of the remoteness of it and the lack of outside influence for so long (and even still there are quite a lot of homes wihtout electricity; and many more without TVs, or even indoor plumbing). It really can be like stepping into the past, at least language- and mannerisms-wise.

And of course, such total and outrageous abuse by the coal companies.

[VOX]

10. This is a question for Jerry Lee Lewis...

Great balls of fire!

:toast:

[twistedliberal]

11. If your dad's brother's daughter (your paternal cousin)....

...married your mom's brother (making her your maternal aunt)?

EDIT: Like in Rabrrrrrr's case that I didn't see :)

SECOND EDIT: Had to add some r's