edit: The reason I find it an odd term is because human ancestry literally doesn’t follow a line. It always branches off, even if only to just include two parents. It’s a tree like structure, a line would misrepresent it

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      31 day ago

      I suppose it is in a fashion, but not necessarily. Let’s say you know you have a ancestor that was part of the first expedition to the arctic. The line of ancestor to descendent between that person and you would be the bloodline. Everyone you are related to would be your family tree, but that could be hundreds of people depending on how far back you go, and could be thousands of people if you start looking at everyone descended from that person. But you are only concerned with the direct line of lineage between them and you, and that would be your bloodline.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          215 hours ago

          It’s just different use cases. A tree would show relations to the individual, a line just proves they descended from a particular person. Applications of it might be a bit outdated, but I don’t think there is any more reason to show relations in a tree than “oh, that’s neat”.

          • @[email protected]OP
            link
            fedilink
            111 hours ago

            That tree actually provides quick and easy insight into who you’re related to. Which is quite helpful especially in smaller isolated communities