Uncle Andy and Auntie Sammi

vaporeon7

My life would suck without you
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    A few of my friends and I were talking the other day about our family friends. A lot of us had in common that we had been calling some of our parents friends uncle and auntie, even though we weren't related. So I've been wondering, who else has done this, or still does this? Was is weird when you found out you weren't related if you used to think you were? Does it seem awkward to call them that now?

    Discuss!
     
    My family actually has a good amount of family friends. My nana was best friends with a woman named who everyone calls Lil for short. Lil eventually had kids who grew up and got married and had children too and the rest is history. The family friends we know and see the most are the Wahby's. There's Debra or Debbie, her husband Pete, and their children Vincent Pete (or every just calls him Little Pete) and Brittney.

    Anyway, enough rambling. Our family is so close to the Wahby's that we basically consider them our family, despite being just family friends. We visit them pretty often and I call Debbie, "Aunt Debbie" whenever I see her and Pete "Uncle Pete." Same goes for her sister Mary Ann and Lil. I call them Aunt Mary Ann and Aunt Lil. It was pretty awkward when I found out they weren't my blood-related aunt and uncle, especially for Debbie and Pete, though I still call them "aunt" and "uncle' cause as I said, we're so close, we're considered a part of their family. We just call them a part of our family anyway and they do the same.
     
    I never have. I apparently am one of the few people who are "allowed" to call my best friend's parents by their first names. T:
     
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    I call them auntie and uncle out of respect. It's just a tradition that latinos and filipinos got.
     
    Growing up, my parents always had me acknowledge their close friends as an aunt or uncle even though we weren't related. I vaguely remember questioning it, but I understood that it was out of respect. I still do it today with some of our close family friends, but not so much with newer or younger friends that my parents make.
     
    All of my older cousins are like 15+ years older than me and I grew up calling them by their first names because well, they're still my cousins. So apparently I thought it was okay to call friends' parents by their first names when I was like 4 and when my mom heard me do that she reprimanded me, even though the parents never really said anything, but I'm sure they were taken aback a bit XD

    Anyway, that was when I was little, we don't have many family friends but the ones we do have just let me call them by their first names. I don't even call many of my aunts and uncles 'Aunt Blah' or 'Uncle Bluh,' it's just their first names :L    ​
     
    I used to kind of wonder why I didn't call any of my mum or dad's close friends 'uncle' or 'auntie' but then I realized I don't even call their brothers and sisters that. We've just always called them by their first name unless differentiating them from someone else with the same name (Uncle Bob vs Stepdad Bob, Aunt Stacy vs Stepmom Stacey, etc). So my brother and I never use those familial names, but there are people who we feel are aunt- and uncle-like enough that we would use those if we did. Does that make sense?
     
    Practically everyone I know did or does this so it never seemed strange to me. I was never confused because I'd always ask "Are they my real uncle?" or something like that.

    I wouldn't call anyone 'aunt' or 'uncle' now though unless they really were my aunt or uncle. It just seems too weird.
     
    I probably would've done this if we had family friends when I was a kid, but we didn't. :/

    My sister does this with her son; they have my roommate and a BFF of hers who are referred to as uncles. It's pretty adorable.
     
    I dont think I've ever done this, Uncle and Aunt were always saved for people who were actual family members I think.
     
    Never done it. Never had anyone to do it to, really. My family moved pretty far when I was really young so they were starting from scratch. It wasn't like I was surrounded by their old friends, and when I finally got to meet them I was 17 or 18 so I was too conscious of them being just friends.
     
    Despite my parents having some friends that we would visit every once and a while, the only people that weren't my family that I called uncle or aunt were my dad's good friend growing up and his wife (Uncle Daryl and Aunt Chris). I never though much of it growing up as I realized we weren't related by the time I was 4 or so, but it would seem weird if I though of them as anything but my aunt and uncle.
     
    I've actually never done it, but a lot of my friends call my parents 'mom' or 'momma -insert last name-' and 'dad' instead of auntie and uncle. I think it's nice! Whenever I end up having kids down the line I'll probably refer to my best friends as 'your auntie and uncle'. Kinda like on HIMYM with 'Uncle Marshall & Barney and Aunt Lily & Robin' :)
     
    I called my friends aunt Aunt Carla all the time even though we weren't related ;p, thats just what he called her and i was always at his house when i was a kid and i saw her more than a lot of my aunts lol.
     
    My Mum used to make me call her friend Kristine "Auntie Kristine" and I grew up thinking she was actually my aunty and then when I found out she wasn't it was like MIND BLOWN.

    They really shouldn't do that to kids, it'll mess them up.
     
    I've never used those terms for anyone other than my actual relatives, but even then I usually just use their first names. My family's pretty relaxed with the way we address each other, it'd feel weird to me having to call them a certain term when I know their actual name and have used it my whole life. But no, I've never (as far as I can remember) called a family friend those terms!
     
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