the.com/nepotism
the original gift that keeps on giving — to relatives, regardless of merit.
means The practice of giving jobs, advantages, or favors to relatives and friends rather than choosing people on the basis of their actual abilities.
from From Italian nepotismo, built on nipote, "nephew" (ultimately from Latin nepos, "nephew" or "grandson"). The word carries a very specific scandal: it points to the popes and high clergy who, sworn to celibacy and thus officially childless, advanced their "nephews" — a word that often politely meant their illegitimate sons — to lucrative church offices. By the 17th century the term had spread from the Vatican into general use for any boss who treats kinship as a qualification.
- latin root
- From nepos, meaning nephew.
- papal origins
- Popes promoted nephews to cardinal in droves.
- actual nephews
- Those nephews were often secret papal sons.
- baby term
- Spawned the modern coinage nepo baby.
- hardwired
- Studies show humans favor kin by instinct.
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kennedy family politics — joe kennedy's sons became president (jfk), senator (rfk), and senator (ted), dominating massachusetts politics through the 1960s-1970s
nehru-gandhi dynasty — jawaharlal nehru's daughter indira gandhi became pm, her son rajiv gandhi became pm, and granddaughter priyanka gandhi holds party leadership in india