Greetings

Originally posted by rgoudie
In the supermarket you meet you mother's only brother'-in-law's only brother-in-law. What do you call the gentleman?

-Ray.

Uncle-in-law I think unless your father's brother is married to your mother's sister, which would mean he would be your uncle. 🙂

Originally posted by mikenay
As my parents are married, I'd probably call him Dad. If they weren't I might struggle!

The book agrees with you, but I suspect a flaw in this problem, unless brother-in-law status may cross two marriages. 😕

-Ray.

Originally posted by rgoudie
In the supermarket you meet you mother's only brother'-in-law's only brother-in-law. What do you call the gentleman?

-Ray.

"your mother's only brother-in-law":
A your mother's husband's only brother
B your mother's sister's husband
C your mother's brother's wife's only brother (I think this still counts as a brother-in-law)

His (X's) brother-in-law =>
A could be:
E your mother's only brother
F X's sister's husband
B
G your mother's only brother
H X's sister's husband
I X's brother's wife's only brother
C
J your mother's only brother

So, the possibilities for what to call him are:
E,G,J: uncle
F,H,I: these people are linked to you only by two marriages - I don't know if there is a name for them. In practice you'd probably still call them 'uncle', as uncle is used very loosely to describe an older male relative (as opposed to 'cousin' for someone about the same age; I don't know if 'nephew' is used much for a younger male relative)

Don't see where '(Step)father' comes into it, unless as you say in-laws cross multiple marriages.

Originally posted by rgoudie
In the supermarket you meet you mother's only brother'-in-law's only brother-in-law. What do you call the gentleman?

-Ray.

Aha - "father" can be right, thinking about it.

Brother in law can strictly be either of (I think)
i) wife's brother
ii) husband's brother
iii) or sisters husband
iv) wife's sister's husband
v) husband's sister's husband


so if my mother has 1 brother in law, that means he's either my
a) dad's brother (from ii)
b) mother's sister's husband (from iii)
c) dad's sister's husband (from v)

Then if that person has exactly 1 brother in law then
b) and c) go back to my father.
a) wanders off into more distant relations: either my uncle's wife's brother, or my uncle's wife's sister's husband.