I was reading an old post today in the blog DI Dad. He is the father to two children that were conceived using a donor. His site brought my attention to the post that I wrote yesterday. As I was catching up with my reading, which in this case, I decided to go from current to past posts, I read about a question that he posted to his readers. Here goes:
Terminology request:
I am getting tired of writing “the mom of my kids’ half sibling”. Is there an anacronym (misp?) out there that has ben created for this purpose already? I don’t want to use her real name and making up a pseudonym seems funny as readers will say “who is that?”. Amazing how science also affects the creation of new words for purposes such as this.
I have no idea what he should call this woman in his life. He did get one post from someone suggesting MOCHS, but that was his only response. More interesting to me was his observation about how our language is always evolving and changing with each new type of treatment, and with each new way that we as humans are currently building our families.
I have 3 siblings from my stepmother and my dad. We never called them “half” sisters and brother, they were just our siblings. The trouble that I have now is that my stepmom and my dad are divorced and have been for years. Do I call her my ex-stepmom or my dad’s ex-wife or my half-siblings mother? Of course, I mostly call her by her name, and at times I call her mom. But having to explain the relationship to strangers is complicated. Every time I do this, I stumble over my words.
If you have any suggestions for me or for DI Dad, please let us know!
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