Mysterious characters in addresses

May 30, 2006 12:20 PM

Help me figure out these weird Spanish, Danish, and Portugese characters in an address given to me via the Internet. I don't think what I see is what is meant.

The sample from Denmark is
ьsterbrogade
where the first character looks like this. That's a Russian letter, so that can't be right. What is the correct character?

The Spanish address is
Gracia 15, 5º 2ª
Where there is Gracia, fifteen, comma, five, then what looks like a degree symbol, then a two, then what looks like a little "a" in superscript. It's rare that I see superscripts in an address so I am worried that these must be written as something else. I actually see a lot of superscripted addresses like this come from Spain.

Similarly, the Portugese address is
Outubro nº 198 6º
where the "n" and "6" are followed by what looks like a degree symbol.

How should these be written?

posted by chef_boyardee to computers & internet (9 answers total)

For the Spanish, probably ordinal street numbers:

Just as we sometimes write 3^rd and 4^th in English, we also can write 3^o and 4^a in Spanish. The letter used in the superscript depends on the gender of the number. Thus 5^o is the same as quinto, and 5^a is the same as quinta.

posted by smackfu at 12:25 PM on May 30, 2006

In French, at least, that degree sign indicates the ordinal number (so, yours would be "fifth"), and many addresses have "bis" or a letter thrown into a superscript to mean basement or a half-address.

I've also seen superscript Os or As in Italian to indicate a gendered ordinal number. 1a = "prima"; 1o = "primo".

On preview, what smackfu said.
posted by occhiblu at 12:26 PM on May 30, 2006

Another piece of the puzzle:

4ª - feminine ª so usually referring to 'puerta' (door). Compare with: 4º (masculine) that usually refers to 'piso' (here 'piso' means 'floor')
posted by smackfu at 12:36 PM on May 30, 2006

A Google search suggests Østerbrogade for the Danish address.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 12:37 PM on May 30, 2006

The Spanish address: Gracia 15, 5º 2ª
The Street : Gracia; The number :15;
The Floor: 5; The apartment or office : 2a
posted by adamvasco at 12:43 PM on May 30, 2006

Thanks all! This helps greatly.
posted by chef_boyardee at 12:44 PM on May 30, 2006

Østerbrogade is a street in Copenhagen. I guess the Danish letter Ø has somehow been corrupted into something else.
posted by mummimamma at 12:59 PM on May 30, 2006

Wikipedia on №
posted by grouse at 1:38 PM on May 30, 2006

If it's any help, Øst-erbro-gade read literally breaks down to East-erbro-street and is also a nice district in Københagen. It's where they keep the embassies.
posted by Ken McE at 3:23 PM on May 30, 2006