Sentences from Seriously...I'm Kidding
"...I also found out that I am tenth cousins once removed from Academy Award–winning actress Halle Berry. That’s a pretty obvious one. Look at us. We’re like twins... I am also a distant cousin of Richard Gere, so now there are two reasons we can’t date. I am eighth cousins nine times removed from George Washington, which explains why I cannot tell a lie and I love to wear powdered wigs. And, most important of all, I’m royalty. I am fifteenth cousins with the future queen of England, Kate Middleton, which makes it a lot less weird that I have everyone who works for me call me Your Royal Highness...."

What does "tenth cousins once removed", "eighth cousins nine times removed", and "fifteenth cousins" mean?
I know there is a relationship between Ellen and those people, but I don't understand how close they are.
It seems like there is a pattern, but why doesn't she use "removed" for the relationship with Kate Middleton?

Thanks

Question

Sentences from Seriously...I'm Kidding
"...I also found out that I am tenth cousins once removed from Academy Award–winning actress Halle Berry. That’s a pretty obvious one. Look at us. We’re like twins... I am also a distant cousin of Richard Gere, so now there are two reasons we can’t date. I am eighth cousins nine times removed from George Washington, which explains why I cannot tell a lie and I love to wear powdered wigs. And, most important of all, I’m royalty. I am fifteenth cousins with the future queen of England, Kate Middleton, which makes it a lot less weird that I have everyone who works for me call me Your Royal Highness...."

What does "tenth cousins once removed", "eighth cousins nine times removed", and "fifteenth cousins" mean?
I know there is a relationship between Ellen and those people, but I don't understand how close they are.
It seems like there is a pattern, but why doesn't she use "removed" for the relationship with Kate Middleton?

Thanks

Answer

Even native English speakers don't understand complicated relationships like that. We understand cousins, 2nd cousins, and sometimes "once removed", but the examples in that text are complicated. All of them are very distant relationships.

Here's a chart that might be helpful:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tEHNWE8rkQ0/UFAhtunB9RI/AAAAAAAAD2g/4kdNP-CjtaM/s1600/BB+cousin+chart+2.JPG

Answers · 1

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