"blood family" = kindred

[Jonathan Lighter]

One important reason for "blood family" is that "kindred" has fallen out of general use.

However, I find there is something creepy about it - or gory.

JL

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: "blood family" = kindred
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 17:41:25 -0500, Benjamin Zimmer
wrote:

>On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:35:16 -0800, Jonathan Lighter
> 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/

Slightly earlier, in the "birth family" sense:

-----
Lima News (Ohio), Aug 22, 1968, p. 28
Adopted parents are often given scant information on their chosen child's
blood relations. This is done to prevent any later crossing of the two
families, which might trigger a change in the blood family's willingness
to go through with the adoption.
-----

And earlier still, in a peculiar show-biz usage:

-----
Chronicle Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), Oct 26, 1954, p. 18
It was a party for both of Liberace's families. There was his blood family
... And there was his money family, consisting of his business managers,
his arranger, his television director, and the wives of some of them.
-----


--Ben Zimmer

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