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Relative Obscurity

 oh her, well she's my brother's wife's sister's husband's stepdaughter
 
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Someone recently tried to rattle off a family tree relationship between themselves and another person I inquired about. The exchange was meaningless as I really had little time to try and decipher the exact steps, seeing as it resulted in far more possessive adjectives than I care to indulge in any given sentence. It seemed more an exercise in their own ability to remember who the person is rather than me understanding who or what the relationship is.

Relative Obscurity therefore becomes a game show. 2 contestants, Beryl and Lucinda.

compere: "Beryl, behind curtain number 2 is a family member of Lucinda, for 10 points and a brightly coloured ribbon, please tell us what relationship you believe he or she has to her when we reveal them - tonight on Relative Obscurity . . "

(curtain draws) Beryl: "hmmm, (compares faces) I think this man is Lucinda's second cousin"

compere: "no, i'm sorry Beryl, he is in fact her husband, and now onto round two, in a moment Lucinda we will show you a series of 10 photographs of people from your extended family, you will have 30 seconds to describe your relationship to each of them. Your time starts now."

Game show continues through several rounds of guessing and memory tests with remeniscences of photographs, recorded voices, personal items etc until one of the contestants wins. The whole family is given a holiday, matching socks, pitbull terriers etc

—benfrost, Jan 21 2005

Somebody's Somebody or other http://www.bbc.co.u.../index.shtml?clip=3
From BBC Voice. Be sure to check out the Highlands and Northern Islands. [[ sctld ], Jan 21 2005]

Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max http://www.mudcat.o...ong.cfm?SongID=5253
A song for your TV show [robinism, Jan 22 2005]


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Annotation:







       //rattle off a family tree relationship between themselves and another person I inquired about//   

       Those sort of nick names are quite common in the Doric regions of Scotland. People get called things like Mary's Gregor's John's Quine. Link provided to a sound sample of some old people discussing this practice.
—[ sctld ], Jan 21 2005
   

       I have to go somewhere to be alone and laugh ... this is really funny. No, and I'm not blaming the Scots for this.   

       Word for the day: blithering.
—reensure, Jan 21 2005
   

       Thanks for the audio link. Maybe this explains why, in the British sitcom "Keeping up Appearances," they always refer to their sister Rose as "Our Rose."
—robinism, Jan 22 2005
   

       Good link [sctld]. [benfrost] - I thought this would be played in reverse - "Mike, for thirty points please tell us the full name of the second daughter of your wife's first cousin?".
—wagster, Jan 22 2005
   

       Oh Hell - I'm having painful stabbing flashbacks of my law school admission test.
—JungFrankenstein, Jan 22 2005
   

       [wagster] this can be round three.
—benfrost, Jan 22 2005
   


 

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