How To Describe A Family Connection.

[joko]

the situation is - my niece has 2 direct cousins - my nephews, but the cousins also have another cousin - my brothers wifes brothers kid.

What could you call the connection between my niece & my SILs brothers kid?

i know its a vague connection but if you were making a huge family tree they could feasibly both be included so there is some kind of familial 'connection'.

i was at school with a boy who 1 had a similar situation with - he was my aunties (by marriage) sisters son, & we always kind of just said distant cousins or something.

thanks

[THECORBYLOON]

The OED agrees with Chambers-

"The brother of one's husband or wife, or the husband of one's sibling. Also occasionally: the husband of one's sister-in-law."

[New Judge]

//Also occasionally: the husband of one's sister-in-law."//

The thing is, Corby (as with the "second cousin" issue) what is it these dictionaries are trying to do? I understood their function was to provide the definition of words. But it seems they have stretched this to the misinterpretation or wrong use employed by some people ("occasionally" in this case, "more loosely" in the 2nd cousin example).

There is a clear definition of brother/sister-in-law and it does not stretch to the spouses of those relations. I know that language evolves but there must be a distinction between evolution and plain incorrect usage. It seems to me that these publications are complicit in encouraging the latter by legitimising wrong usage under the guise of "loosely" or "occasionally".