We show that the (2 × 2)-subpermanents of a generic matrix generate an ideal whose height, unmixedness, primary decomposition, the number and structure of the minimal components, resolutions, radical, integral closure and Gröbner bases all depend on the characteristic of the underlying subfield: if the characteristic of the subfield is two, this ideal is the determinantal ideal for which all of these properties are already well known. We show that as long as the characteristic of the subfield is not two, the results are in marked contrast with those for the determinantal ideals.