Pedantics

[eldar]

Please take the following three lines, and imagine that you know nothing of the composition of the Family Rosoff:

Alexis - That would be etc.
Carly - That would be Alexis's youngest sister.
Jen - That would be Alexis's eldest sister.

Now tell me, based entirely upon those three statements, what you know about Alexis, Carly, and Jen, and their relative ages.

My answer would be:
Alexis, Carly, and Jen are sisters. Alexis (and thus Carly and Jen) have at least two sisters. Carly is younger than Jen. Alexis and Jen have no sisters who are younger than Carly. I have no idea if either Jen or Carly is either younger or older than Alexis.

P.S. Let arosoff know your views as well :)

Comments

[arosoff.livejournal.com]

My 2p:

1, reality: When using "youngest" and "eldest" in reference to siblings, the comparison is usually taken to be within the ENTIRE set of siblings.

2, logic: I only have 2 sisters. In a set of 2, you can't use a superlative; you can only use a comparative. Since you did use a superlative, you have to assume the existence of a 3rd member of the set. Either I have more sisters or you're including me. And if you switch to a comparative, you go back to problem 1, in spades--if you say "elder sister" it's always assumed to be relative to the sibling.

There are 2 potential solutions:

1: Jen is Alexis' younger sister.
Carly is Alexis' youngest sister.
(Which is what I usually say)

2: Jen is the elder of Alexis' sisters (which makes it clear that she's only the older of the two, and makes no reference to me). If you want to be totally pedantic, she's "the elder of my two younger sisters".