There’s a word for when a celebrity adopts a pseudonym when he or she is staying at a hotel out of town. Anybody remember what it is?
Incognito?
Pseemourbuttzism?
I recently heard on some … documentary, perhaps, or an interview, or a panel show, where one celebrity mentioned a name, and the other celebrity said, “Oh, that’s your xxxxxx?”
It was a common word, like “that’s your second?” or “that’s your other?” but I can’t remember what it was.
At the risk of being obvious (and wrong), could it have been “alias”? If not that, maybe “handle”?
a related question: How is this done legally?
When do you cross the line from “A celebrity using a pseudonym” to “a person with fake id”?
Does such a celebrity have credit cards in the name of his “handle”? And if so, does he have a driver’s license in a fake name, too? How about a passport?
The hotel knows who the celebrity is but agrees to help protect their identity by allowing a false name to be used.
I don’t remember it being either one of those. Damn it, I can’t even remember where I heard it.
Attention whore?
Okay, probably not the word you’re looking for. But seriously, is anyone supposed to believe that when Johnny Depp checks into a hotel using the name Mr Donkey Penis (true story) he’s doing it to keep a low profile?
Nom de Room?
Not nom de guerre?
Neither of those; it was a simple English word. I think I’d have remembered it if it were French or Latin.
Travelling name?
My friend pumped gas for James Taylor and he wasn’t sure it was him until he saw his name on the credit card.
No help on the term but here are the pseudos a few of them use.
I always figured stars travel with entourages/posses. Don’t one of them just check in the rooms under their name?
He isn’t doing it to try to hide his identity from the hotel. It’s a code word for the hotel to know when to let someone through to him.
Cover? Smokescreen?
I’m working on a sort of thesaurus website, and got concealment as the only synonym for incognito. The synonyms I got for concealment were:
activity, blind, bosom, burial, burying, camouflage, concealing, confidentiality, cover, cover-up, covering, covert, covertness, disguise, hiddenness, hiding, isolation, mask, masking, money laundering, privacy, privateness, screen, screening, secrecy, shoji, smoke screen, smokescreen, stalking-horse, stealing, stealth
Stalking-horse???
Fine. But Donkey Penis? If the purpose was just to screen out strangers, a regular sounding name like Joe Smith would work. Donkey Penis is just a cry for attention. I’m surprised Depp doesn’t request they put up a big neon sign out front that says “JOHNNY DEPP IS STAYING HERE!!!” And I’m not singling out Depp here. Plenty of other stars pick names that scream “Everybody look at me! I’m a famous movie star!”
But Donkey Penis works exactly as well as Joe Smith. And it might be easier for him and his close contacts to remember. And, he might think it funny.
How is it a “neon sign” if it’s something that only he, the hotel, and the people who are given the code word know what it is?