I was talking to m2m earlier about cousins fucking and was reminded of how big of a clusterfuck our naming convention is for cousins. I figured I would share an easy way to figure it out.
The definition of cousins are two people who share the same ancestor. If you want to know what type of cousin they are, you count the G-words in what common ancestor.
Example: If you have the same grandparent, there's 1 G, so you are first cousins.
Example: If you have the same great great grandparent, then there are 3 G's, so you are third cousins.
Now the removed aspect comes in when the G factor is different for each of the two people involved.
So what if my grandparent is your great great grandparent?
First you figure out the two different G-factors: 1 and 3.
The smallest of those numbers is the type of cousin you are: The smallest number is 1, so you're first cousins.
The difference between the number is the "removed" aspect: 3-1 is 2, so you're twice removed.
That means you're first cousins twice removed.
Ta da.
