• Most Icelanders do not have a family name (such as Johnson, Smith, etc).  So children have a given name and then father’s-name-son or father’s-name-daughter. Thus:
  1. Jon has a son named Thor Jonsson and a daughter named Hafdis Jonsdottir.
  2. Thor Jonsson has a son named Bjarni Thorsson and a daughter named Frida Thorsdottir.
  3. And so forth.
• Icelandic women don’t take the husband’s name when they marry, chiefly because the husband doesn’t have a family name to take.
• Because they don’t have surnames, Icelanders are listed in the telephone directory alphabetically by first name. Read More…

Back during the Solidarity days, I heard that the following joke was being told in Poland:

A man goes into the Bank of Gdansk to make a deposit. Since he has never kept money in a bank before, he is a little nervous.

“What happens if the Bank of Gdansk should fail?” he asks.

“Well, in that case your money would be insured by the Bank of Warsaw.”

“But, what if the Bank of Warsaw fails?”

“Well, there’d be no problem, because the Bank of Warsaw is insured by the National Bank of Poland.”

“And if the National Bank of Poland fails?”

“Then your money would be insured by the Bank of Moscow.”

“And what if the Bank of Moscow fails?”

“Then your money would be insured by the Great Bank of the Soviet Union.”

“And if that bank fails?”

“Well, in that case, you’d lose all your money. But, wouldn’t it be worth it?”

(This joke is best told and not read. It helps if you can do dialects.)

Time: late 1940′s

Place: New York

There were these two elderly Jewish gentlemen visiting the Big Apple when they decided it was getting late and they needed to find a room for the night. As they passed one hotel, one man says to the other, “Why don’t we try this one?” The other says, “Are you crazy? It says on the sign that this is a restricted hotel. You know what that means? It means they don’t let Jews in!” To which the first man replies, “Restricted, reschmicted. Let’s go in and have a little fun. Just let me do all the talking.”

So the two men enter and approach the desk clerk.

Man: (in thick Yiddish accent) We want a room!

Clerk: (Flustered. With a “Connecticut clench”) I’m sorry, but this is a RESTRICTED hotel. We do NOT allow Jewish people to stay here.

Man: What makes you think I’m Jewish? I’m just as Christian as you are! Come on, ask me a Christion question!

The clerk decides to amuse him.

Clerk: OK. OK. Where was Jesus born?

Man: Such a question! Everybody knows that Jesus was born in a stable. Come on, ask me another Christian question!

Clerk: (Impatient) Look. I know you are Jewish and you are not staying here!

Man: Come on, ask me a question. Ask me, “What for was Jesus born in a stable!”

Clerk: (visibly angry) All right! Why was Jesus born in a stable!?

Man: Because a schmuck like you wouldn’t give his mother a room either!

In recent times, there has been much discussion of the shortcomings of US education. Americans’ poor knowledge of geography is one of the areas often criticized.

A. Whitney Brown, in his commentary about the war, had this to say on Saturday Night Live (Feb. 9, 1991):

“But you have to admit, our bombs are incredibly smart. In fact, our bombs are better-educated than the average high-school graduate. I mean, at least they can find Kuwait.”