Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2015 June 5

= June 5 =

Icelandic people who take their mother's name?
So, if an Icelandic person use a matronym instead of the customary patronym, would people generally assume by default that this is because he/she didn't know who their father was? I don't suppose that this sort of thing matters as much nowadays - but to be realistic, I suspect that people would still comment on it if that was the case... Thanks (no offence intended to anyone, particular our Icelandic friends - just curious). --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 00:23, 5 June 2015 (UTC)


 * There's a thing called "search" which you will find at the top or top left of this page. Type "Icelandic name" in that field and click go for an answer.  You can do this for a lot of similar questions, so please take advantage of it. μηδείς (talk) 04:34, 5 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Hello Kurt. While Icelandic name does cover this topic, here are also some external sources should you have wished to add references to the article. Modern law allows both, Matronymic given when parents not married or if mother wishes to conceal paternity (in the past) , Matronymics becoming more common , Matronymics no longer considered identifier of parental marital status , When a parent has a foreign name , When mother's family is more prestigous (historical) . 184.147.134.128 (talk) 10:45, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

Children's book on the paranormal featuring alien pterosaurs
When I was in elementary school, back in the mid or late 90's, I read an illustrated children's book about paranormal phenomena. It was a fairly generic book covering ghosts, alien abductions, cryptids, and the like, and I think it had a generic title along the lines of "Unexplained Mysteries" or "Mysterious Phenomena," but there are two things about it I still remember. The first was a fairly frightening illustration of a phantom dog monster (might have been on the cover). The second was an elaborate illustration of life on another planet-- the scene showed Gray aliens watching a spaceship launch (implied to be a specific UFO seen on Earth) in an icy landscape, while pterosaur-like creatures flew overhead. Anyone know what this book is? I'd be interested to find it again for nostalgia's sake. 75.4.17.61 (talk) 13:54, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Sounds like it might be the Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena series, which has a book on "UFOs and Aliens". Ian.thomson (talk) 14:27, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I don't think that was it (the book covered a range of paranormal phenomena, not just aliens) but thanks for the link anyhow. 75.4.17.61 (talk) 15:45, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I posted this on a forum and someone actually knew what I was talking about! The book was entitled 'The World of the Unknown' and may have been an anthology of three volumes (monsters, ghosts, and UFOs). Here is the image I particularly remembered. The alien in question was the Hopkinsville goblin and not a gray. 75.4.17.61 (talk) 02:31, 6 June 2015 (UTC)
 * The three books ("Ghosts", "Monsters", and "UFO's") were first published by Usborne in 1977, incidentally. Tevildo (talk) 08:14, 6 June 2015 (UTC)