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Ideas. Insights. Inspiration.

Writer's pictureDavid Pullara

Ignorance is a Choice


Annie Thorisdottir is a professional CrossFit athlete from Iceland, co-owner of Crossfit Reykjavik, the first woman to win the CrossFit Games twice, and one of the very few celebrities I follow on Instagram. A few weeks ago, Thorisdottir announced (via Instagram) that she's expecting her first child. And yesterday, she shared the photo above with the caption "Baby Girl FREDERIKSDOTTIR". "Awwww," I thought, before my mind went to, "Wait, I didn't think Annie is married... so why does the baby shirt say Frederiksdottir and not Thorsdottir?" I went to Google and typed: "Is Annie Thorisdottir married?", and the search engine promptly provided the answer: "Annie Thorisdottir's boyfriend is Frederik Aegidius." Frederik. Knowing that was unlikely to be a coincidence. I conducted another search: "dottir meaning". And in a few clicks I had my answer, courtesy of Behind the Name: For the most part, family names are used in all of the Scandinavian countries except Iceland, which uses patronyms derived from the father's given name and the suffixes -son meaning "son" and -dóttir meaning "daughter". For example, a man named Jón Magnússon might have a daughter named Vigdís Jónsdóttir and a son Einar Jónsson. Okay, then! So Annie's "dottir" will have the surname Frederiksdottir because she's from Iceland, and because the girl's father's first name is Frederik. That's a bit of trivia I can file away in my brain under "interesting facts". Perhaps one day I'll meet someone from Iceland and can impress them with my newfound knowledge of their culture. Or maybe one day I'll be on Jeopardy. My point? In the glorious Age of Information, I can only think of four valid reasons for not knowing something you wish to know:


  1. You don't have easy access to an internet-connected device;

  2. What you want to know is complex and requires some prior knowledge (you don't already possess) before you can understand it;

  3. What you want to know is privileged, personal, or classified information;

  4. You are unable to read and/or process information.


End of list. Otherwise, ignorance is a choice. For most of us, the world is at our fingertips. Stay curious, my friends. - dp

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