Today, at my big age of 26 years old, I finally learned what a first cousin once removed is, and I know I can't be the only person who heard the phrase, wrongly assumed it was about divorce, and moved on with my day.
In the now-viral clip, the educator with over 22 years of teaching under his belt expertly broke down the family tree and how it relates to cousins once, twice, and three times removed.
"My uncle's son would be my first cousin," Mr. Silberman explained. "My first cousin's son would be my first cousin, once removed. Removed means down by one generation."
But wait! That's not all. "If my first cousin once removed has a son, he would be my first cousin twice removed," Mr. Silberman continued. "Now, my first cousin's son, and my son are second cousins. I hope that clears things up."
Mind blown.
Knowing I couldn't be the only person flourishing with this new information, I quickly checked the comment section and was pleased to find that TikTok was being TikTok — aka, people across cultures are joking about sticking to their old ways of understanding.
There were a few people who admitted to being like me and assuming "removed" meant divorced...
...and others who thought there was family drama at play.
But Mr. Silberman has cleared that all up for us. Shoutout to the TikTok teachers, teaching us things we should have learned long ago.
If you'd like to learn more about cousins, Mr. Silberman has a whole 101 series on the family tree. You can check him out on TikTok.