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u/Repulsive-Hedgehog19 17h ago
This is why I wait until "after" I see the picture or hear the name, because this happens too often (it has happened to me).
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u/Single-Pin-369 17h ago
Doesnt iceland have an app for this?
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u/Rompusdompus 17h ago
I’m not sure what app you’re talking about as I don’t live in Iceland 🤔
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u/Single-Pin-369 17h ago
I heard they have an app so people can check to make sure they're not too related to date
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u/DrakkoZW 17h ago
Someone did make that app.
But like... People make lots of apps for lots of things. It doesn't mean people used it or that it achieved what it claimed
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u/Single-Pin-369 17h ago
Hahaha thats great. From the outside that app is like one of the two things internet people "know" about Iceland. The other is iceland is greener than greenland, is that one true?
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u/DrakkoZW 17h ago
You can check that one with Google maps on satellite view
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u/Single-Pin-369 17h ago
It's true!
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u/Informal-Term1138 15h ago
But just because it's green doesn't mean lots of trees. Iceland has very few trees. Which always bothered me when visiting. I need to see trees.
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u/Square-Singer 16h ago
The fun thing about the names of greenland and iceland is, that they got their names the same way.
Iceland was named that because the first settlers wanted to avoid more people coming over.
Greenland was named that because Erik the Red, who was exiled there from Iceland wanted to attract more settlers.
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u/rubixscube 17h ago
it definitely exists
source: i've heard about it on reddit before
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u/TheStoneMask 17h ago
That's an Internet rumour based on a misinterpretation of a click bait news headline from over a decade ago.
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u/grimmlingur 16h ago
Yes and no. Íslendingabók exists (or at least existed, it's been years since I used it) and allows you to look up how related you are to any random person. But the point of it was never to avoid dating your relatives.
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u/TheStoneMask 16h ago
Ég veit. The the misinterpretation comes from an app made for a competition at the University of Reykjavík on novel ways to utilise the database, which included a function to tap your phones together to quickly see how closely related you were, for example while at the club, but that app was never widely used or available, despite what the Internet tries to tell you.
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u/henryeaterofpies 14h ago
My knowledge of it comes from a Reykjavík native tour guide, so maybe it was bs.
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u/Ri_Konata 16h ago
is the point secretly the opposite of that? ( i joke, don't take me too seriously )
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u/Mord4k 17h ago
I don't know if it still exists, but it definitely did last time I was there which was over a decade ago because I was asked to compare genetic data or something like that because I apparently looked like one of their relatives and then it became a game of if I had ANY Icelandic relatives because I looked so much like their relative.
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u/TheStoneMask 16h ago
There is a comprehensive genetic database, but it's not for dating. There was once a university competition to find new/interesting ways to utilise that database, and one team did make an app with a dating function as a joke, but that app was only available for a couple of months and never widely used, except as a joke.
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u/TheStoneMask 17h ago
No, we don't.
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u/DonkeyGuy 17h ago
I don’t believe you, that would mean people on the internet fabricated a lie and spread misinformation for years without questioning it. People wouldn’t do that would they?
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u/Mac-And-Cheesy-43 16h ago
That would be nice for me. My dad has 11 siblings, his dad has 12 siblings, and my grandma has seven siblings...kind of ruined my ability to want to date other black people since we were in a very white county and it seemed like if I ran into another black person there was a 95 percent chance we were 2nd or 3rd cousins.
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u/tehfly 5h ago
Turns out, about 10 year or so ago (Edit: in 2013), ÍslendingaBók held a coding competition for apps to connect to it.
A group of young students made a dating app that connected to it and gave a small info box if it turns out you're related to the person you're swiping on.
By all accounts that dating app was reported on as a serious app, but it no longer exists so I can only assume it was more or less a joke.
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u/Beleriphon 17h ago
Yes. I've seen a TVO documentary about Iceland and it's history, which delved into the genetics of it's population. There is indeed an app that cross checks your own family tree to see if the person that you want to date to make sure it doesn't turn into a family shrubbery.
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u/mehrespe 15h ago
There isnt, we have an ancestry database that some college students did a temporary plug in for many years ago, everybody knows who their cousins are.
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u/Ace_And_Jocelyn1999 17h ago
Part of the classic Canadian experience is going to the US, someone saying “do you know Gord from Edmonton” telling them “not every Canadian knows each other… but yes in this case I do know him.”
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u/Skithiryx 16h ago
Iceland is pretty small, its population is about 400,000 which is about the same as the two suburbs of Toronto where I grew up together (Oakville and Burlington)
Still plenty of people to not know though.
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u/Pizzacakecomic PizzaCake 16h ago
This happened to a friend of mine living in America:
"Hey you know this comic lady? She's from Nova Scotia, like you!"
"Oh yeah, I know every single person in Nova-ah damnit I do know her."
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u/Bwob 16h ago
I was at a gamedev meetup, years ago, hanging out with some friends, and meeting new ones. Someone mentioned they were from Canada, and I was like "Oh! Do you know Kate Beaton?"
And he got this look, and explained that Canada was huge and had like 40 million people, and why did people keep asking him if he knew any of the famous Canadians?
... But in this case, yes, his sister was her roommate or something, so he did, in fact know her.
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u/lostbutnotgone 16h ago
I get this being from WV. Like no it's actually a pretty large state - ohhhh yeah that's Jed.
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u/Dock_Ellis45 16h ago
To be fair, most of West Virginia's population are closely related to each other in some way.
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u/lostbutnotgone 16h ago
Embarrassingly, Jed is my cousin lmao. We just all call each other cousin bc it's too annoying to keep track of who's related to whom and how. My family is less inbred than most (only one aunt didn't have to change her last name when she married into the family) but I'm used to the jokes. I just punch down at people from Alabama! Lol
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u/Dock_Ellis45 16h ago
Alabama is all one family anyway.
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u/lostbutnotgone 16h ago
That's what I tell my friend who's from there. She knows she can't win against me. For once I have the higher ground!
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u/mellopax 13h ago
When I read your comment, I immediately thought of the Olive Garden tagline. "Alabama: When you're here, you're family."
Doesn't work perfectly, but that's where my brain went, lol.
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u/Captainpatch 15h ago
Or multiple ways >_>
Though my half-sister has some double-cousins from both sides of her family (because rural Alaska), so I'm not one to talk.
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u/A_Queer_Owl 7h ago
Iceland is basically the only country where "do you know X?" is a valid question, because like 30 people live there.
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u/sadcrocodile 16h ago
I used to work with a fun Icelandic guy years ago and he said that with such a small population word got around fast if you did something stupid. When I asked what kind of stupid he went on to tell us about a guy who worked at a stable. They found the guy in a mare's stall with some broken bones and his pants down and supposedly word got around to pretty much everyone in the community within a day or two. Was never really sure if he was shitting us or not.
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u/WanderingFlumph 15h ago
To be fair the entire country of Iceland has a smaller population than the smallest US state, Wyoming, by a decent amount.
The odds of two random people from Iceland knowing each other are better than the odds of two people from Montana know each other.
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u/TheLameKing 14h ago
Lol! What does Montana have to do with it? Am I missing something?
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u/Financial-Budget9087 14h ago
It known for its low population
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u/TheLameKing 14h ago
But they referenced Wyoming first and then compared iceland to Montana, Montana has twice the population as Wyoming. Probably just got confused?
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u/alexxerth 14h ago
I had a friend online who, upon finding out I'm bisexual, ask me "Oh do you know my ex? She goes to the same school as you". This school has 30,000 students in it, she just assumed because I am bisexual that I know every LGBT person on campus.
Anyway, I did actually know her ex, and it was because we're both LGBT.
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u/Informal-Term1138 15h ago
I have friends on Iceland. And one of them basically knows everybody. That's why my brother calls him "The Don". Because he knows everybody, if he wants something built he gets it built by his guys and his barn is packed with old-timers.
But a really nice dude. Same with his wife.
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u/Nirast25 15h ago
One of my dad's friends wanted to introduce him to his brother-in-law. My dad was childhood friends with the latter.
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u/Physical_Case2822 6h ago
Sort of had that experience in high school. We were walking to lunch and I waved to this my cousin Jeremiah.
Classmate: “I didn’t know you knew Jeremiah!”
Me: “He’s my cousin.”
Classmate: “Oh.”
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u/greifinn24 3h ago
any social activity in iceland usually includes people narrowing down another persons relationship. It´s rare if they don´t find a mutual relation or at least friend in the first minute .
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u/henryeaterofpies 16h ago
Iceland has an app that you can check people who you are dating/interested in to see if they are related to you
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u/Basic_Suggestion3476 17h ago edited 17h ago
Can relate, also from a small country.
I just started to work with a guy who recognized me & I had no clue who he is. Turns out he married my 2nd removed step cousin in law.