Goddaughter, Fishdaughter

[azurelunatic]

I find it interesting what I will say in front of acquaintances and what I won't. Often enough I avoid things that require extra explanation when I don't want to get into it.

"Goddaughter" is pretty well understood. The young person whose moral and spiritual education I have the honor and responsibility of guiding. Not actually biological.

"Fishdaughter" is really nonstandard. Why fish? What is entailed in a fish relationship? How did you come by your responsibilities?

Sometimes I will explain: book club, internet, accidentally a whole family. (Is that bad?) Sometimes I say "goddaughter", and let people make assumptions that are not all that far off.

Comments

[exor674]

"fishdaughter", if I ignore the backstory, sounds like you are overly attached to a female pet fish. >_>

[azurelunatic]

Indeed so, thus the explanations...

[mathsnerd]

"accidentally a whole family" Wouldn't that be a whole school of fish? *ducks*

Happy to have you as FishMum, happy to coparent the BMF. Wouldn't trade our setup for the world.

[azurelunatic]

A whole school indeed! And now several colleges.

[shehasathree]

I have a guidebug, but i often handwave and call him my godson in certain circles.

[azurelunatic]

Sometimes privacy trumps accuracy!

[vass]

Sometimes the embedded assumptions in etymologies for relationships are as uncomfortable as embedded splinters in skin.

Like 'goddaughter' being inherently theistic, for a relationship that's important and common but need not involve God.

Or how for some weird reason in English there is no standard gender-neutral way to refer to aunts/uncles or nieces/nephews.

Or the one I keep stumbling on, 'in law' for someone who's related to you by their relationship with one of your relations, which unnecessarily and inaccurately implies that this is a legal relationship. I call my brother's partner of more than a decade my sister-outlaw. Calling her my sister-in-law would invalidate their very firm decision not to get married.

[azurelunatic]

Yes!