Comments on: Mysterious characters in addresses

Question: Mysterious characters in addresses

chef_boyardee — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:20:11 -0800

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?

By: smackfu

smackfu — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:25:34 -0800

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.

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:26:45 -0800

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.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:36:19 -0800

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')

By: ClarissaWAM

ClarissaWAM — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:37:22 -0800

A Google search suggests Østerbrogade for the Danish address.

By: adamvasco

adamvasco — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:43:23 -0800

The Spanish address: Gracia 15, 5º 2ª
The Street : Gracia; The number :15;
The Floor: 5; The apartment or office : 2a

By: chef_boyardee

chef_boyardee — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:44:07 -0800

Thanks all! This helps greatly.

By: mummimamma

mummimamma — Tue, 30 May 2006 12:59:21 -0800

Østerbrogade is a street in Copenhagen. I guess the Danish letter Ø has somehow been corrupted into something else.

By: grouse

grouse — Tue, 30 May 2006 13:38:28 -0800

Wikipedia on

By: Ken McE

Ken McE — Tue, 30 May 2006 15:23:14 -0800

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.