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hirashin (Offline)
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Smile kid brother - 05-28-2008, 05:01 AM

Thank you all for the interesting replies.

I have seen "kid brother" used. For example:
Junglecity.com -

Jennifer: Who is he?
Erin: That's Michael's kid brother.
Jennifer: I didn't know he had a kid brother.
Erin: We hadn't seen him for years because he lives in the east coast. They aren't that close.

Is the dialog above unnatural to native speakers?
Don't anyone use it referring to "younger brother"?

Hirashin
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05-28-2008, 07:24 AM

I think in the us or other western country they don't have a term for that & i have ask that question with a British fren of mine.

what i noticed most Asian countries do have a term for for older or younger brother or sister, can you think of some?

cantonese, chinese
Tai lo - big brother
Sai lo - small brother

filipino, philippines
Kuya - elder bother
ate - elder sister

putonghua, chinese
jieje - elder sis
meimei - younger sis
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05-28-2008, 02:21 PM

"kid brother" is used in terms if the other is a lot younger than the other.

For example.....

I'm 32 and my sister is 18 I'd call her "kid sister"

My oldest son is 13 and his brother is 12 he'd call his brother "younger brother"

They in turn would call their 2 year old sister "kid sister"



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05-29-2008, 07:11 AM

Ummm well I think it depends on where they were raised, my family doesn't really call each other "elder brother" nor "younger sister" we call each other by nick names and my parents are the only ones who call us by our birth names.
When refering to someones brother or sister we mostly use "Big brother", "Little brother" and "Big sis", "Little sis".
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hirashin (Offline)
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Smile Thank you - 05-29-2008, 02:06 PM

Thank you all for the help. I appreciate it.

Some people say they use "big brother" but others say they don't.

I've noticed the usage of such words depends heavily on the person, family, and the area. It's very complicated but interesting.

Hirashin
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