missann asks, There is a word in Spanish for "my son-in-law's parents." My son-in law does have South American parents and I would like to remember the word so I can introduce them as "my ___." Can anyone help me?

Can't speak for Spanish, but Yiddish has words of that ilk. The father of your son-in-law (or of your daughter-in-law) is your machuten; the mother thereof is your machetayneste.

See here. This link is only the first bit of an article. The full article on-line gives terms in other languages, but it requires payment; however, you can probably find hard copy in your library.

According to this version the term in Spanish is consuegros.

Hmmm. I wonder if societies with very formalized marriage rituals are more likely to have words for a child's mate's parents, siblings, or relatives than English/American society which really doesn't.
I shall ask our Afghani and Indian friends. Meshal, feel free to jump in anytime.

The Yiddish word mekhutn (מחותן) derived from Hebrew KhTN (חתן) 'to be related by marriage'. There's a secondary meaning in Yiddish of 'pretended familiarity': vos far a mekhutn bin ikh dir? "What am I to you?" Literally, "Am I your in-law?" (See the chapter on 'Marriage' in Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods by Michael Wex.)

quote:

Meshal, feel free to jump in anytime.

Here I am

I was sure, but I asked my family and they insure me there's no word for this

on other side the son called his father-in-law "uncle"

Kinship terminology is a well-studied subject in linguistics, just as kinship itself is in (social/cultural) anthropology. Here's a nice list to peruse.

[Corrected typo.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

Our daughter-in-law is Mexican, and on the weekend of our son's wedding, I said to his mother-in-law, "There is no word for what we are to each other." She replied, "Not in English, but there is in Spanish: 'consuegra.'" So I've been pleased, these last six years, to enjoy a great friendship with my consuegra.

Guess that's the feminine form of consuegros? I have to confess that my Spanish vocabulary consists of about 10 words.

Wordmatic