There you are at our sumptuous, stylish, but pas de trop reception, meeting local people. “Why,” you wonder in between waves of gustatory pleasure, “do the mother, father, sons, and daughters in this one family all have different surnames?”
Actually, they don’t have surnames. Few here do. Instead, they’re on the patronymic system. It works like this:
Your dad’s first name, maybe with a small spelling adjustment, is suffixed with -son if you’re male, or -dóttir if you’re female.
That’s pretty much it. In cases where the father is MIA, you can use a matronymic built from your mother’s name.
But people don’t use their patronymics much. You can know someone for a long time without ever learning it, people have never changed their names upon marriage, there are no titles like Mr., and the phone book is arranged by first names.
Thanks for all the info! Should we buy our flybus tickets online before we go? or can we use our visa for that at the airport? We took the first advice to not bother bring any converted spondulicks, and the bank can't order any in before we go. We can exchange currency at the airport if we need to right?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't bother buying FlyBus tickets online. There's no discount, you have to keep track of the receipt, and it only takes a minute to buy it at the airport.
ReplyDeleteIt's likewise no problem to exchange money at the airport. The only cash you're likely to want, though, is some 100 kr coins for the bus.
okay thanks. What street do you live on?
ReplyDeleteI'm addicted to your blog and links. Thanks for posting all of this!