learn something new every day

I love t’internets.

Have I mentioned that once or twice? I imagine I have.

I love that the answer to almost every question in the world can be found… in an INSTANT.

And today, I finally decided to get the answer to a question that has plagued me for a thousand years:

What’s a second cousin? Furthermore, what is a “first cousin, once removed”?

And, and because I love to share, here it is, in case YOU didn’t know either, courtesy of Wikipedia, the repository of all that is good, and right and true:

The degree (first, second, third cousin, et cetera) indicates one less than the minimum number of generations between both cousins and the nearest common ancestor. For example, a person with whom one shares a grandparent (but not a parent) is a first cousin; someone with whom one shares a great-grandparent (but not a grandparent) is a second cousin; and someone with whom one shares a great-great-grandparent (but not a great-grandparent) is a third cousin; and so on.

The remove (once removed, twice removed, etc.) indicates the number of generations, if any, separating the two cousins from each other. The child of one’s first cousin is one’s first cousin once removed because the one generation separation represents one remove. Oneself and the child are still considered first cousins, as one’s grandparent (this child’s great-grandparent), as the most recent common ancestor, represents one degree. Equally the child of one’s great-aunt or uncle (one’s parent’s cousin) is one’s first cousin once removed because their grandparent (one’s own great-grandparent) is the most recent common ancestor.

They had me right up to that last sentence.

For those of you who, like me, prefer your information visually presented, Wikipedia also provided a nifty graph:

You’re welcome.