How should I define the type of my aunt and uncle in order to specify among my parents, whose brother or sister they are?
Is it the natural way of it to precede these nouns with the adjectives "maternal" and "paternal" or there is another fixed term for them which I have to know?
I have always said:
She is my maternal aunt or he is my paternal uncle and so on.
But for soem unknow reasons these terms strike me a bit philosophical.
I wonder if you let me know about it.
Best Answer
Maternal and paternal work; you can have a maternal uncle and a paternal aunt.
You might also say the distaff side for the female side of a family, or the spear side for the male side.
‘the family title could be passed down through the distaff side’
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/distaff
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/the_spear_side
Different languages and cultures have different ways of describing relatives; see
How can you recognize "uncle" is father's brother or mother's brother? (Is there any "default option"? )
and
https://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/12788/is-there-a-way-to-differentiate-between-uncles-aunts-grandparents