When I went downstairs today, I met a neighbor, Aunt Zhao, who came downstairs with her little grandson to play. Seeing me, Aunt Zhao's little grandson greeted me very warmly: "Auntie is good", and I immediately responded with a "hello".
I don't know if you have noticed such a phenomenon in your daily life: when adults and children meet their colleagues and friends, parents will habitually let children call "uncles, aunts" instead of "uncles and aunts".
When we meet the elderly, we will let the children call "grandparents" instead of "grandparents", so what is the difference between this way of calling them?
As the saying goes, "no relatives are called uncles, and uncles have a head", why is there such a custom?
As the saying goes, "uncle is like father", half of the child's blood relationship comes from the mother's family, so in this regard, the uncle is a very important role in the family.
Like there is something important in the family, such as the separation of the family and the like, the father will invite the mother's family to come over, and the uncle will naturally be present, so that the husband's family will not bully the female family. In addition, bystanders are clear, and some small contradictions can be avoided.
So uncles are still very important in a family. However, such an important role and title, why in ordinary life, in the face of ordinary people, only let the child be called "uncle and aunt", but not "uncle and aunt"?
Children greet them as "uncles and aunts" instead of "uncles and aunts", which is more in line with daily social interactions
When introducing strangers, children are often called "uncle, aunt", not "uncle, aunt", this is because "uncle, aunt" is more suitable for the opening words of inquiries and greetings, and when strangers inquire and ask for help, the spoken language is often "uncle, aunt, uncle, child" and so on.
But it will never be called "uncle, aunt, grandfather", etc., such a title does not conform to daily social language, if someone really calls you this, it is easy to make people two monks and confused.
In life, titles like "uncle and aunt" are acquaintances versus acquaintances. In the face of ordinary friends and people who are not very familiar, it is natural to call them "uncles and aunts".
Called "uncle" is not called "uncle", but also the embodiment of the ancient "male superiority and female inferiority" culture
In terms of title, they are generally reluctant to be related to women and in-laws
Generally speaking, if the mother lets her child call a man "uncle", under the premise of no relationship, it is largely regarded as a "taking advantage" behavior, although in a specific environment, it can also be seen as a close relationship with the other party, but it is not appropriate in the eyes of outsiders.
In addition, if the father lets his child call a man "uncle", in addition to having a sister-brother relationship with the child's mother, this title is also easy to misunderstand, after all, such a title means that you have to marry each other's sisters. If it is a person with a very ordinary relationship, such a title will make people feel taken advantage of.
And if the child calls the other party "uncle", then not only can the child's mother pull away, indicating that the other party has nothing to do with himself, but also can imply that his husband and the other party are like brothers, so there is nothing wrong with such a title.
In the same way, if you let your child call the old man "grandparents", the first thing is to identify with the status of the other party's old man, is an elder, and is a kind of respect for the other party; secondly, to a certain extent, it is also a metaphor for the old man: I and your own children are like brothers and sisters, which closes the relationship between the two.
But if you let the child call the old man "Grandma and Grandpa", then it means that you have married the other party's daughter, if you are not familiar with the other party, it is easy to have the suspicion of "taking advantage".
Influenced by the ancient "male superiority and female inferiority"
In fact, the reason why there is a difference in titles has a lot to do with the concept of "male superiority and female inferiority" in traditional social culture.
China has always been "son-preference", patriarchal society, it is precisely because men are inferior to women, women's origin, family name, blood and other aspects are often diluted, and the blood relations related to women are also placed after men.
This can also be well reflected in the title, in the title, pay more attention to the man's blood, pay attention to the man's brothers and sisters, the man's parents and ancestors, and the man's descendants.
Therefore, in terms of titles, the titles of grandparents, uncles and aunts, applied to outsiders who have no blood and in-law relationship, are the embodiment of this concept, and as grandmothers and uncles on the female side, they are always lost behind the glory of men. Therefore, the folk also have the saying that "no relative is not called uncle, and the uncle is called the head of the theory".
Kojima would like to say:
In short, letting children call people who have no blood and in-law relationships "uncles" instead of "uncles" is a Chinese folk custom and is also related to the concept of "male superiority and female inferiority" in traditional culture.
Nowadays, this kind of name can meet the daily social needs, so this kind of name can be passed down.