comadre y compadre or a friendly term for the in-laws
In the mountains of northern New Mexico, comadre y compadre are the acceptable and properly polite terms to refer to my daughter or my son's father and mother-in-law. The concept here is that we are "co parents". Are the terms used this way in the rest of the Spanish speaking world or is this strictly a Northern New Mexican Spanish terminology?
For example, here I could say that, "Tomorrow, I will meet my comadre for the first time." and everyone who knows me and knows I have only one daughter and that she is betrothed, will understand that I am meeting with my future son-in-law's mother.
2 Answers
En Panamá usamos "suegro/a"
This is probably an invention of the people in your area.
"Compadre" / "commadre" are the people who are the godparents of another couple´s child, so they call each other by this term. The child calls the godparents "padrino" / "madrina." It has nothing to do with in-laws.
These terms are also occasionally used among close friends and sometimes in a shortened manner, ie: "¿Qué tal, compa?"
