phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Homogeneous children

Posted by Henry on March 16, 2004

In Reply to: Homogeneous children posted by ESC on March 16, 2004

: : : What is meant by nthe term homogeneous children.
: : : Thank You

: : I'll take a crack at this one, speaking as a genealogist who studies family structure a lot. I have heard this term applied to families often, but rarely to children alone. By definition a homogeneous family would be-
: : {(A,B):ab1,ab2,ab3}
: : which would describe a family of parents A&B along with three children begotten by their own efforts. Anything else would be classified as hetrogeneous.
: : If you apply the term to children alone it would describe not only the above, but also-
: : {():ab1,ab2,ab3}
: : {(A):ab1,ab2,ab3}
: : {(A,C):ab1,ab2,ab3}
: : You will also have to consider the following situation-
: : {(A,C):ab1}.and.{(B,D):ab2,ab3}
: : and the subsequent:
: : {(A,C):ab1,ac1}.and.{(B,D):ab2,ab3,bd1}
: : two obviously hetrogeneous families but containing the subset {ab1,ab2,ab3} of homogeneous children. The children have not changed, regardless of what the parents do. Arrrrgh!
: : I will mention, but not pursue, many studies that have shown 5 to 10 percent of children born have no genetic relationship to the father listed on the birth certificate. Also, sooner or later, someone will manage to clone a human child, fulfilling the ultimate egotist's dream. Ponder that one. My head hurts. I'll think about this tomorrow.

: I'm not going to think about it at all. I have decided it (like lots of things) is a problem for my children's generation to figure out.

: From Merriam-Webster online, homogeneous:
: 1 : of the same or a similar kind or nature
: 2 : of uniform structure or composition throughout. A culturally homogeneous neighborhood.

: Regarding "homogeneous children," I think the meaning depends on the context. In addition to the genealogical meaning previously mentioned, I submit a couple of other possible meanings.

: A group of first-graders would be homogeneous children -- same age, size, etc.

: Then I found a race-related meaning online. "...interracial marriage which was suppose to produce a race of homogenous children with both black and white characteristics."

It may help to know that in this case the prefix homo- comes from the Greek word meaning 'same'. Hetero- comes from the Greek word meaning 'other' or 'different'.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.