I've been wondering about the terms half-brother and
half-sister I've often heard used. I've used these terms myself too with my own family. Why do we do
this? In the Bible, Joseph refers to his eleven other brothers, though only Benjamin
was a full brother with the same mother as Joseph. All of these twelve brothers had the same father.
From a legal point of view it seems to me that halves have
just as much rights as full, which can seen in migration when they
have as much right to migrate by virtue of family line. They are
brothers and sisters in the eyes of the law.
I suppose people like to
categorise differences explicitly. Some people may even use different parentage as an excuse to say, that person isn't really my brother or
sister, but they are.
I realise I use this terminology in my fiction book and I need
to change it now. I use the term step-brother, when this person is actually my
protagonist's brother by virtue of adoption, and I must change all references to half-brother, to merely say brother.
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