In the same way that there is no such thing as a "great father/mother" or "great son/daughter”, there is no such thing as a "great uncle/aunt" or "great nephew/niece" which are improper street slangs that the Geni WFT is using. This use of improper grammar creates a serious error in the enumerations of the relations of uncle/aunt/nephew/niece on Geni. The historically correct titles & enumerations are as follows:
In the 1st degree it is
“Uncle/Aunt” and “Nephew/Niece”.
In the 2nd degree it is
"GRAND Uncle/Aunt/Nephew/Niece"
[NOT Great Uncle/Aunt/Nephew/Niece – this is street slang].
In the 3rd degree it is
"Great Grand Uncle/Aunt/Nephew/Niece"
[NOT 2nd Great (Great Great) Uncle/Aunt/Nephew/Niece – this is street slang].
3rd generation (in the 4th degree) is
“2nd Great Grand (Great Great Grand) Uncle/Aunt/Nephew/Niece”
[NOT 3rd Great (Great Great Great] Uncle/Aunt/Nephew/Niece – this is street slang].
Both English terms 'great' and 'grand' come from the same French word, and it is acceptable to use “great uncle/aunt/nephew/niece” but only if you are consistent by using “great father/mother/son/daughter”.
But by using “grand father/mother/son/daughter” AND “great uncle/aunt/nephew/niece”, the WFT is mishmashing two different dialectic forms.
Either use “grand” and “great grand” or else use “great” and “great great” for BOTH kinship sets of father/mother/son/daughter” and “uncle/aunt/nephew/niece”. It is thoroughly incorrect the way Geni is currently using the terms.
I’m sure that Geni/MyHeritage would agree that kinship language is complicated enough without allowing uneducated street slang grammar to usurp proper educated grammar, especially as it will most assuredly screw up the work of genealogists of future generations - and Geni’s current language terminology just makes it that much worse by sanctioning the use of improper terminology grammar. This is akin to a grammar school textbook using the slang term “ain’t” instead of “aren’t” and “isn’t”. YES, it is certain that you can find some ancient or archaic occasional uses of "great uncle/aunt/nephew/niece”, but their uneducated use of those terms does not validate them any more than the use in Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the slang “ain’t” legitimizes or standardizes that word in proper grammar.
I respectfully request that Geni cooperate with the world standard of kinship terminology & enumeration by updating this serious error in the WFT system.
Thank you, Dr. Jim Cunningham.
__________________
There are countless references to verify this, aside from common sense, but here are at least two; I would have included the link to Encyclopedia Britannica, but it is a paid site and requires log-in access:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niece_and_nephew#Grandniece_and_grandnephew
http://www.myrelative.com/html/relationship.html
