Expert: Cesar - 12/25/2009

Question
Hello,

Do people in Colombia call each other brother, sister, uncle, aunt and/or other family/relative/sibling names or they reserve those titles for actual family, relatives or siblings?

Here in the United States people(regardless of race) will call each other brother or sister or whatever family/relative/sibling title when they are not related to you. I resent it when black people call me "brother"...I'm black but these people are not relatives. United States is getting more and more third world all the time. It's annoying. I hate it.

Thank you  

Answer
Dear Mr. Melvin:

The answer is: A little. It can be as a joke when in a salutation they say: "¡¿Qué hubo hermano?!", which is the same to say: "What's up brother?!". It is not a serious salutation, just a way to show happiness and friendliness, but that is it for that: they would not call each other brothers in other circumstances, only in the salutation. There is another one: couples indicate a relationship that is close, but not official: Females indicate close to a marriage relationship to their partners when they say "mi marido", which is pretty much like saying  "my husband". It is normally used by women who has a life partner. He can say "mi mujer" to indicate that she is his life partner. In Mexico woman say "husband" when in fact they are not married, but have a life partner. Other than those two there are really no other ones unless someone decides to do/say so, but most people would know it is not true and it is out of a joke. As you know, people is often not limited to what they say, and if they feel they want to call names or say something out of their creation then they go ahead and do that. Sometimes female teenagers lie when they have a very close female friend: if asked about their relationship to each other they might say they are sisters, but that is mainly because they are very close and have such feelings towards each other. They say sisters in such occasion, but not in others, just when a stranger asks. Therefore the answer is: in special circumnstances (except for "marido" and "mujer", which will be constant). Other than that: once in a while.

Regards,

Cesar
www.CesarUSA.com