"blood family" = kindred

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:35:16 -0800, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>>From "Studio B," Fox News Channel, ten minutes ago:
>
>"The Schindler family, Terri Schiavo's blood family."
>
>"Blood family" is not in OED, though "blood-kin" is dated to 1880.
>Personally, I would have said "birth family," which isn't listed either.
>
>Fox News has been using "blood family" routinely in this case.

I associate "blood family" with the Mafia, or at least fictionalizations
like the Sopranos where small-f family is distinguished from big-f Family.
 Here's a cite:

  That had never been his goal, such an ambition would have been a
  "disrespect" to his benefactor and his benefactor's blood family.
    Mario Puzo, _The Godfather_, 1969, p. 53 (1978 Signet edition)
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0451167716/


--Ben Zimmer