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"kissin' cousin"

English translation: A very close relative

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:kissing cousin
Selected answer:A very close relative
Entered by: Kim Metzger

12:20 Jan 15, 2002
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary
English term or phrase: "kissin' cousin"
I saw the expression "kissin' cousin"
in a elvis Presley's movie "blue Hawaii". It's included in the song "beach boy blues".
The lyrics were something like: "..I'm a kissin'cousin to a ripe pineapple.."

I wonder if there is something extra meaning for it, than the straight translation.

Kimmo Aroluoto, Helsinki, Finland
Kimmo Aroluoto
A very close relative
Explanation:
A relative known well enough to greet with a kiss. If someone says I'm a kissing cousin to a ripe pineapple it means the person feels like a pineapple. (strange thought). Hope this helps.

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Note added at 2002-01-15 12:32:44 (GMT)
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Or it can also mean: I look like rather than feel like something.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-01-15 12:44:14 (GMT)
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When two things are very similar you might say their kissing cousins.

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Note added at 2002-01-15 13:06:32 (GMT)
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They\'re kissing cousins - sorry about the type.
Selected response from:

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 03:28
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3A very close relative
Kim Metzger
4 +2More info ...
Mary Worby
5child of one's uncle or aunt.
ansettbd
5just some additional info
Liv Bliss (X)
5cousins you see often
John Kinory (X)
5Kim and idioms
John Kinory (X)
4 -1US English reference
Kim Metzger


  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
A very close relative


Explanation:
A relative known well enough to greet with a kiss. If someone says I'm a kissing cousin to a ripe pineapple it means the person feels like a pineapple. (strange thought). Hope this helps.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-01-15 12:32:44 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or it can also mean: I look like rather than feel like something.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-01-15 12:44:14 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

When two things are very similar you might say their kissing cousins.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-01-15 13:06:32 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

They\'re kissing cousins - sorry about the type.

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 03:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 2249
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  cochrum
2 hrs
agree  athena22
2 hrs
agree  joz67 (X)
2 days 7 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
More info ...


Explanation:
Kim's got it right, I just thought I'd give you a bit more info!

Full lyrics:

Beach Boy Blues
(words & music by Sid Tepper - Roy Bennett)
I'm a poor Hawaiian beach boy
A long way from the beach
'Cause someone shoved his face against my hand
Now I'm a kissing cousin to a ripe pineapple
I'm in the can

I was minding my own business
But drinking daddy's juice
I swear I'll never touch that stuff again
Just like a pig before he gave his all that aluhau
I'm in the pen

Got those beach boy blues
Don't the time go slow
Lonely beach boy blues
Only 30 day's and 90 years to go

I want a taste of honey
From my wahini's lips
I want to be her ever loving man
But I'm a kissing cousin to a ripe pineapple
I'm in the can

But I'm a kissing cousin to a ripe pineapple
I'm in the can

It's fairly colourful! ''Cause someone shoved his face against my hand' - he hit someone! The pineapple analogy is about the fact that he's 'in the can', i.e. in jail, while pineapples are in tins!

HTH

Mary


    Reference: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/8250/lyrics/beach...
Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:28
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 164

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Liv Bliss (X): This is right on. But there are a few more details that you might find helpful (see my "answer" below).
5 hrs
agree  joz67 (X)
2 days 6 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
child of one's uncle or aunt.


Explanation:
Mr.Steve is my father's younger brother and so his son is my cousin.


    Reference: http://www.geocities.com/ansettbd
ansettbd
Bangladesh
Local time: 15:28
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
just some additional info


Explanation:
Mary has it dead on. Just wanted to add a few points:

1. in the US, pineapple slices and chunks do come in cans. So the pineapple/jailbird pun works better in US English than it does in UK English.

2. Elvis later made a "hillbilly-comedy" movie called Kissin' Cousins. I don't remember the plot (who was ever paying any attention to the plot?).

3. I always thought that the idea behind the term "kissing cousin" was that two people who are related but more distantly than as first cousins can legally marry and/or can have a sexual relationship (kissing and whatever else you please). American Heritage and Webster's tell me that I was WRONG-WRONG-WRONG about that.

Liv Bliss (X)
Local time: 02:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 4
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1 day 7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
cousins you see often


Explanation:
This information is from an American born and bred, who was born in Chicago and spent all her adult years in Detroit:

This term refers to first or second cousins, who see each other often and therefore are on regular kissing terms. It means no less and no more than that.

John Kinory (X)
Local time: 10:28
PRO pts in pair: 48

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Kim Metzger: It means far more than just that. It has an idiomatic meaning as well.
1 day 7 mins
  -> OK: so why is the above not an idiom? Of course it is. You are arguing with an intelligent, well-read, American who was born and spent the part 50 years in Chicago and Detroit. Fine.
agree  Werner George Patels, M.A., C.Tran.(ATIO) (X): Finally, we're getting the right answer
1 day 4 hrs
  -> Thanks - and see below.
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2 days 9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
US English reference


Explanation:
I guess ABC News is a reasonably good authority on US English usage.
The pair, christened Orpheus and Eurydice after the Greek mythological lovers, are 1.5 to 2 million years old and have been identified as Paranthropus robustus, a hominid line that became extinct about one million years ago.
“They are not direct ancestors of modern humans but are more like ‘kissing cousins’ of our ancestors,” Lee Berger told Reuters after a news conference, where the pair — discovered in 1994 but revealed only now — were put on public display for the first time.


    Reference: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/hominid0004...
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 03:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 2249

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  John Kinory (X): That is what is known as a simile, Kim.
2 hrs
  -> Idiom = a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deductible from those of the individual words (OED), ie not literal.
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2 days 22 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Kim and idioms


Explanation:
Thank you for explaining to me what an idiom is. After 40 years as a translator, it's high time I knew what it meant.

Now that I do:

The kissing cousins do not HAVE to be kissing every time they meet. They only have to be on kissing terms. Therefore, the expression is not a literal one, but an idiom.

And I think you mean 'deducible', not 'deductibe'.

John Kinory (X)
Local time: 10:28
PRO pts in pair: 48
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