Having recently been introduced to this walking conundrum I thought I would share the thought process for this regular conversation in a household that is keen on family history. I hope it helps should you be as lost as I usually am…
1st cousins – your usual people who you know as cousins – your aunt and uncle’s sprogs who are likely to be around your age.
2nd cousins – these only turn up if your cousins have kids.
The whole ‘removed’ deal – this is where there is a ‘generation gap’ and you have to for ‘once removed’, for example, go up through your parents generation (first cousins) and then add the ‘removed’ as you go back down to the relation in question.
If you’re a visualee try this (Wikipedia: source of all truth and knowledge) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin
rachelreallyrambles 