Forum member Teledildonix has asked the ever burning question of one of his peers mea37: what is the origin of your handle?

I thought, following the advice of Oedipa, that maybe I could set an example and start a discussion about it. So people, do as you will.

And to be on topic (we can't have hijacking of threads in a thread-starter I suppose) My handle has no origin, and no meaning.

[unFalln] My handle has no origin, and no meaning.

Oooh... mysterious. Or nihilistic? Or really just... vacuous? Whatever the (lack of) meaning, i wonder: how do you pronounce it?

An old thread , which Jon proclaimed had the lamest title ever, was about 'Jellicle names'. My handle (or nickname, or whatever it is-- i'm unsure of the semantics here) is self-evident.

The only thing vaguely original is that i spell it with an "x", mainly because other people in other domains have usually already laid claim to the 'proper' spelling. Also, i have a penchant for words which are queerly (mis)spelled. There are so many millions of people named Kevin, i've often been tempted to spell my name with a 'Q', just to avoid being like all the rest. But i've resisted the urge, because i don't like to attract extra attention. I imagine it's difficult to be extraordinary yet inconspicuous.

Oscar Wilde said, ""Being natural is simply a pose."

I'm especially curious about Grimicus (because i don't speak Latin); tor and tynic (because i don't speak Australian); and TheMooseKing (because it sounds titillating).

And at the risk of sounding boorishly uneducated, i was wondering whether Graham might tell me if "Albion" is the name of a Scottish place?

In Response to Teledildonix (#10789):

Albion is the ancient name for Scotland, but there isn't actually a place in Scotland called Albion. There is, however, a football team called Albion Rovers, which is confusing.

my handle is my middle school nickname which just kinda stuck, has nothing to do with the band...

I got mine off the back of a cereal box, with a $2 rebate for sending in three UPC's.

It took longer than the 6 to 8 weeks they promised, though.

In Response to Teledildonix (#10789):

It is not mysterious or nihilistic, or vacuous. And the only time I have pronounced it has been something close to 'Ewan Effaye-Dublellan'. And no, that doesn't mean anything either, nor does it have an origin.

In Response to Lonely Goatherd (#10790):

Albion is the ancient name for Scotland

Bzzz. Wrong, poopy-mouth. Albion is an ancient name for Britain - specifically Roman. Caledonia was the equivalent name for Scotland. More significantly, it is the name of the company I founded three years ago. For some reason I've always wanted a company named Albion - probably I should blame it on Robin of Sherwood. I use the name as a default for signing up for websites - it should be safely unused. I don't normally use it for sites where I expect to post, but Goats kinda caught me by surprise on that one. If I'd realised I'd be posting here, I'd probably have gone with Buserian.

Cheers,
Graham

I'm an irish grue. Figure it out.

Actually, I was stuck for a nick back in 1998 when I'd just released an rpg demo using the VERGE engine, and I didn't have a name to stick on it and/or use on IRC. As I wanted something relevant and not filled with random numbers, I thought for an hour pondering.

Then I realized that my real nickname could be altered to contain a nerdy Zork reference. So that was the beginning of McGrue (and with the first trip onto IRC, the downfall of any pretense of productivity for years after).

I was once writing a story while listening to the radio, which at that time was a talk-show type-programme where people were talking about their halloween costumes... one girl was talking about how she dressed up as "Snipergirl", a chick with army pants and rifle basically. It was SUCH A COOL NAME that I called my story that. Of course this was the first actually good story that I ever wrote. Anyway, I've used it ever since as a nickname all over, and this year I decided to let all things come full circle and actually dress as Snipergirl for halloween...

Mine is pretty lame, and I'm not particularly fond of it. Mine is pretty lame, and I'm not particularly fond of it.

Way back in 94 or so when I set up my first email account my friend suggested the name because I have owned and raced quite few Jettas. It was before I realized that a handle would come to represent your total identity on the web, and before most people knew what the internet was, so I didn’t think too much about it.

I used it for so long that everyone knows me as that, and the few times I’ve tried to change it, it was total anarchy; so it’s stuck.

Well, I've used all sorts of handles. I just was sick of the other ones I'd used, so Deathalicious seemed to me to be just right. I really like adding "alicious" to the ends of words, too.

When it came time to get a picture of my avatar, I decided to look up the Attorney General's offic, and stole the image there.

So let me be the first to say: no, I am not John Ashcroft.

Sometimes I feel like I take on his persona when posting, but I'm trying to ease off on that lately, as I am not in fact an asshole.

In Response to Deathalicious (#10826):

Sometimes I feel like I take on his persona when posting, but I'm trying to ease off on that lately, as I am not in fact an asshole.

Riiiight. [goats.com]

I have already answered [goats.com] this question.

I, too, have tried to change my handle on occasion, without success.

In Response to Teledildonix (#10789):

I used to work in a computer lab in college, and we got to choose our usernames. I chose 'grim' because it was short for my old bbs handle 'GrimReaper'.

Eventually, I became an assistant supervisor, as did my best friend who went by the handle 'nocode'. One day he sent out an email to all the lab peoples specifying something somewhat authoritative and signed it 'nocodus'. I thought it was funny, so when I responded with my two cents, I signed mine with 'Grimicus'.

Shortly thereafter, we all started using Instant Messaging and at the time, I wasn't a big fan of adding numbers on the end of stuff to get a specific name, so I just started using Grimicus because it was unique without a number. After that, I just started using it for anything computer-oriented like online games and such. Now, I just think of it as my online handle.

Now, I suppose it doesn't have any real meaning in Latin, if that's what you were looking for. Of course it might, but I've never bothered to check. About the only definition I've ever seen was on some website a bit back when I did a search on Grimicus to try and figure out if anyone else was using it. It was some kind of golf snigglet thing that basically stated that it was a golfer who was grumpy or something like that. Obviously, it wasn't memorable enough for me to even remember.

Why FeldmanSkitzoid? I like the way it sounds. My real name isn't Feldman, and doesn't even sound like it. The Skitzoid part I've been using since 8th grade. I thought it was a funny word, and I've just never bothered to think of a new one. I only started using Feldman in the last...oh, 3 years I'd say, so the two parts have about 5 years between them (see if you can guess my age with that info!).

well, I wasn't going to post to this, becuase mine is quite obvious, but it has gone though some changes. I didn't start with Michele, it was Mish. But it's a personal nickname, and I really didn't like explaining to people how I got it. (Aunt gave it to me, it's Croation, ect)so I switched to Michele to make it less personal. Wierd.

The 9993 was a tribute to my favorite lucky number, 3. I'm no math person, so I don't have any fancy equations to impress you with, but I like 3, and 9 is 3x3, and there are 3 nines. so yah, I just typed in numbers I liked.

My favorite thing about my handle is when stupid people ask me what my name is. Happens all the time. Not sure why they think I'm using some alias when my name is really Angela or something. I also love people who IM me and spell it Michelle. They are looking at my username!!!

In Response to FeldmanSkitzoid (#10860):

22

In Response to Oedipa_Maas (#10842):

...that was a joke.

Anyway, I was just trying to be reassuring, plus paraphrasing that quote from Scary Movie 3.

Trust me, my alignment is Lawful Good.

In Response to Teledildonix (#10789):

Mine really doesn't deserve that much curiosity. Nor is it authentically ocker, though now I wish it was.

The 'nic' is the first syllable of my name (see email), and my usual nickname. The 'ty' ... is one of those things you start when you're a teenager and think it's clever, and then you get stuck with it. For the record, it's an obscure SF reference made more obscure by me chopping off the last two syllables of the original word. If anyone ever comes close to guessing what it's from, I'll buy them a beer ... next time they're in town.

Boy I really wish I hadn't just used my initials, even if they do spell a shortened version of my first name. If I hadn't I would probably have chosen something latin and obscure. Just as well I guess.

My name comes from Douglas Adams' HHGTTG and the enormous mutant Stargoat that threatened to eat the Gulgafringen.

I started using this in about '97 or '98. Only later did I find out that someone put together a religion based upon the Stargoat legend.

In Response to Deathalicious (#10874):

oh, go die.

sorry, i'm a little bitter towards lawful goods, ever since my friend decided she wanted to make her lev.10 a lawful good paladin. what a bitch. i just hate hate hate that damned paladin. my other friend, a necro, made a zombie, and that goddamned paladin (ok, that doesn't make much sense) just up and killed it. right off that bat. and it could have HELPED us. aaaargh!

anyway, off-topic i know. i'm done now.

Mine is utterly boring:
first initial, middle initial, last name

Yeah, mine is another boring one. Porcupines are my favorite animal; 8 is my favorite number. I long ago just started using "porcupine8" every time I make a new account b/c "porcupine" is often taken. I also go by "liane", which is my middle name.

In Response to Oedipa_Maas (#10872):

Woo, someone actually tried. And you are correct!

Gosh, my handle makes me look like a geek. See, I played this online RPG. And if you were really, really good and sucked up to the people in charge, you got a dragon.

It's still something of a mystery how I ended up with one, but it was named 'Sakuruth'. And it stuck. So, of course, anyone who knew me from there recognized the name and said hi; since then, it's been more or less habit. Plus, it's completely unique as far as I've found.