arms length relative

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

This is just one more example of how robust is the English compounding machinery. "Keep X at arm's length" has been around for a long time.
------Original Message------
From: Herb Stahlke
Sender: ADS-L
To: ADS-L
ReplyTo: ADS-L
Subject: [ADS-L] arms length relative
Sent: May 30, 2009 1:08 AM

Doug Harris just wrote, "Just found this in a note on a Facebook page
(of an arms-length relative of whom I'd never heard until two days
ago):"  I am unfamiliar with the expression "arms length relative," so
I googled it and got a total of 43 hits, the vast majority of which
use "relative" as a comparative in the structure "relative to."  The
only hit that seem similar to Doug's was

Even employees of arm's-length relative Qantas use the site regularly.
Keeping fresh. Simply putting its Q&As online was only the start for
...
www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Jetstar-support-soars-with-RightNow/0,139023769,139240310,00.htm

I assume Doug meant a distant relative, otherwise known as a
"shirt-tail cousin."

Herb

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