Okay, I learn now that the definition of "second cousin" is not the same all around the world.That's not the definition of second cousins. My second cousin is the child of my parent's first cousin (or the grandchild of my grandparent's sibling, or the great-grandchild of my great-grandparent).
What you're describing are first cousins once-removed.
The general rule for determining what sort of cousin two people are is to compare their ancestors to find the closest ancestor of either of them who's also an ancestor of the other. The number of generations in between that ancestor and the closer of the two decendants is the degree of cousinship (for example, between grandparent and grandchild there's one generation, so they'd be first cousins). Then the number of additional generations between the other descendant and that common ancestor is the number of removals (continuing the example, if the other descendant was a great-great-grandchild, that would be two additional generations beyond grandchild, so they'd be first cousins twice-removed)
I was assuming it was, but after your comment I did some research and I realised it is not.
I can assure you that as far as Italy is concerned, my 1st cousin is the son of my uncle (same as in UK/US), and my 2nd cousin is the son of my 1st cousin. We don't use the expression "first cousins once-removed" at all: neither in common speak, nor in family law.
To refer to what in UK/US is called "my second cousin" in Italy we are forced to use the circumlocution "the son/daughter of the cousin of my mom/dad". We don't have a specific term.
So the confusion.
What can I say? Variety is what makes the world beautiful... Some concepts can’t be directly translated across cultures.
I was referring to Italy (as I stated in my first comment about cousins having the right to get married in Italy).Dude 40 yrs??? Where did you get that or to be more precise what country is that. Because here in my country I had my 2nd cousin who is closer to my age compare to my 1st cousin.
Probably we are just using a different definition of "second cousin".
I was using the Italian definition (see above), assuming that the definition of "second cousin" were the same all over the world. I've learnt today that instead... it varies across countries. By the way, which country are you referring to?
I am 50, my first cousin (the son of my uncle) is 40 and he has a 10-year-old son. According to the Italian definition of "second cousin" that child is "my second cousin", and we have a 40-year age gap.
Nothing strange... just two different definitions of what a "second cousin" is, in different countries.