Talk:Uncle

I'm looking for an article about "uncle" in the expression "Say uncle", which bullies force their victims to say. From the context it is used in I guess I understand what it means but I don't have the slightest idea of its origin. I would greatly appreciate if anyone could write something about it.

A non-american (as can be seen in my poor spelling and grammar) visitor ;-)212.65.19.208 23:20, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Seems ;ike something that should be in Wiktionary:Uncle, although it is not.. --Mysidia (talk) 23:28, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

I took a look there also, but I wasn't sure where the right place for somethin like that would be. On the Internet I found something in the "Urban Dictionary". The entry there defines the meaning in the mentioned context as something like "surrender" but doesn't give any hints about the origin.

The same strange visitor (can anyone guess where I'm from? :-) ... and no cheating by looking up my IP) --212.65.19.208 23:42, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Maybe it's from the use of 'uncle' as a term of respect, mentioned in this article? I'm only guessing though. --Oolong (talk) 19:33, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

From the article: "'say uncle' or just 'uncle'". No, "Uncle!" is the

submission term, not "say uncle". "Say uncle" is the demand for submission. "Say uncle" and "Uncle!" are opposites. One is the demand for submission, the other is the submission. The article treats them as equivalent, which is wrong, so I'm changing it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.68.134.1 (talk) 20:24, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Uncle Remus refers to 'uncle', in that context, as something that many people find offensive, but there's nothing about that here. Should there be? For context, the 1913 Webster entry for 'uncle' includes this: An eldery man; -- used chiefly as a kindly or familiar appellation, esp. (Southern U. S.) for a worthy old negro; as, "Uncle Remus." [Colloq.] --Oolong (talk) 19:33, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

"It is also a title of respect for elders (for example older cousins, neighbors, acquaintances, as well as total strangers), especially in Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Jamaica, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, Maori culture, and most Pacific Islands."

Could someone go through this list and separate out the people who actually use the term 'Uncle' out of respect, and those which use an equivalent word in their own language? I'm fairly certain that Russian and Japanese, at least, do not need to borrow an English word to create a term of respect. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.13.147.17 (talk) 19:19, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

The list of locations has been remove which probably makes the most sense since I'm sure it was unsourced or poorly sourced. I'd note though that there's no reason to assuming any "borrowing" or "own language". The logical reading of the text is that it's the word they use when they speak English, and possibly they use an equivalent word in a different language when speaking that language. Just because someone is Russian or Japanese doesn't mean they never speak English. Indeed in the case of 'total strangers', it may be reasonable to expect given (for better or worse) the global dominance that English will often be the language spoken when engaging with foreign tourists. Nil Einne (talk) 03:53, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

What relation would my Grandfather's brother's son, be to me? Would he be an Uncle once removed?Wenin (talk) 16:01, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

First cousin once removed. (Your father and him are first cousins, so you and him are first cousins once removed.) 91.105.31.47 (talk) 12:25, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

The article states: "Although the term "great uncle/aunt" is often used, it is, strictly speaking, incorrect." The reference that claims that "great-uncle" is not correct is very biased. The terms grandaunt and granduncle were first used in the 1800s while greataunt and granduncle were used in the 1600s. Apparently some Americans in the 1800s forgot the middle-English origins of the relationship and reanalysed it in terms of "grand" . Someone later invented the idea that "great" is an incorrect prefix for aunt and uncle. Not sure what references could be used to refute this error but the usage of great-aunt and great uncle long precede this usage. Dutch uses a similar construction grootoom for great-uncle. I suppose the logic in claiming that it is not correct is at fault: Since grand means a familial relationship one step removed, and great means a familial relationship once removed that in all other cases is associated with grand, it then must imply that using great for some familial relationship (aunt or uncle) cannot be correct. However, it is one thing to claim this, but another thing to be correct. Obviously the terms great-aunt and great-uncle were used prior to any dictionaries making a claim about the prefixes grand or great. Perhaps the terms grandaunt and granduncle were coined by Webster along with his correction of the not correct English? Twocs (talk) 09:51, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

I agree with you. Not only is the second paragraph prescriptive rather than descriptive, it has an entirely inappropriate tone for an encyclopedia. Particularly the final sentence, which ends, "...so to be consistent why use "great" in conjunction with uncles and aunts." Most of it needs to be deleted entirely.174.60.46.129 (talk) 16:24, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

Also agree. Great uncle is a much more popular usage^[1]. I've removed all the contentious content. Martin Tod (talk) 09:47, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

I thought we were going to add Grunkle here because when I made that wiki page Largo Plazo said and I quote "that article would created under the topic Grand uncle because that would still be the main word for the concept. The term Grunkle would then redirect there." Source of my claim is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Grunkle#Contested_deletion Dogsteeves (talk) 19:34, 24 December 2017 (UTC)