# Ever discover the meaning of a fellow Doper's username purely by accident in a different context? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451 "2014-06-23T16:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/1 "2014-06-23T16:12:20Z")
There’s a meme going around Facebook today: [Rejected Princesses](http://imgur.com/a/YDGv7). I was reading along, and suddenly I went, “Hey! _That’s_ where **Nzinga, Seated** got her username!” 🙂 (Okay, maybe everybody else already knew, but I’d never heard of Nzinga before today.) I was also reading a Harry Dresden book recently where one of the villains had the nickname “Shagnasty,” but I think our Doper of the same name predates the book. Anybody else ever spot one of these and have a little “oh!” moment? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/2 "2014-06-23T16:19:55Z")
How pathetic is this?–I’ve only been back on The Board for a few months, and saw the handle, “Dr. Girlfriend.” No idea what that meant, never heard of “The Venture Bros.” Jonny Quest thread mentioned TVBs, I give it a whirl, it’s hysterical, one of the characters is DR. GIRLFRIEND!! I hope Straight Dope’s DG’s voice isn’t quite that low and raspy. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/3 "2014-06-24T00:07:45Z")
I always thought **Saltire** referenced “salty satire”, then I saw _Black Watch_ (a play about a Scottish military team in the middle east) and there was a bit at the end involving the saltire of the Scottish flag. Turns out “saltire” is not a made-up word, but is the criss-cross part of the Scottish flag. I now think of **Saltire** as Scottish. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/4 "2014-06-24T01:35:40Z")
There are quite a few users here who have taken their user names from some existing fictional (or sometimes non-fictional) source, many of which I had never heard of before. Every so often I stumble upon seeing one of those names in another context (typically, the original usage or some reference thereto). Just to name one example among many, we have a user here formerly known as **Inigo Montoya** that I had never heard of outside this board until by happenstance I did. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/5 "2014-06-24T01:41:18Z")
I can’t remember which posters but yes, on more than one occasion. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/6 "2014-06-24T15:12:11Z")
All the time! I can’t for the life of me remember any right now. I learn the origin of at least one new name every year when I go to a 36-hour sci-fi film marathon. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/7 "2014-06-24T21:42:49Z")
Okay, I just spotted a case within the last few minutes. We have a Doper here who calls himself **sleestak** , _n’est-ce pas?_ Never heard of that otherwise until today. Until [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17490909) by **Czarcasm** , with [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17490909&postcount=11) by **Typo Negative**. Doing a bit of research, one discovers: [Sleestak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Land_of_the_Lost_characters_and_species#Sleestak). ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/8 "2014-06-24T22:27:37Z")
Didn’t we used to have a poster named **ratatosK** or **ratatoskK**? I was just reading something about Norse mythology, and I learned that Ratatosk is the squirrel who runs up and down Yggdrasil, the world tree. I thought, “Heeyyyyyy, I’ve seen that word before!” ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/9 "2014-06-24T22:31:42Z")
**C K Dexter Haven**. And I had seen the Philadelphia Story years ago but just didn’t retain it. A recent reviewing had me forehead-smacking. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/10 "2014-06-24T22:34:15Z")
I was recently reading a book about Bletchley Park, “Secrets of Station X,” when I found out what \*\* Captain Ridley 's Shooting Party \*\* was. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/11 "2014-06-24T22:38:49Z")
Never read much Alan Dean Foster. So it was a while before I found out where Clothahump got his username. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/12 "2014-06-24T22:51:07Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Okay, I just spotted a case within the last few minutes. > > We have a Doper here who calls himself **sleestak** , _n’est-ce pas?_ Never heard of that otherwise until today. > > Until [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17490909) by **Czarcasm** , with [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17490909&postcount=11) by **Typo Negative**. > > Doing a bit of research, one discovers: [Sleestak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Land_of_the_Lost_characters_and_species#Sleestak). You never watched _Land of the Lost_? You must not have been a kid in the 70s. 😉 _Marshall, Will and Holly On a routine expedition…_ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/13 "2014-06-25T00:19:37Z")
> [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > **C K Dexter Haven**. And I had seen the Philadelphia Story years ago but just didn’t retain it. A recent reviewing had me forehead-smacking. I haven’t read any posts by him lately, but we also have had a Roger Thornhill post here.\* Apparently Cary Grant is a popular guy to Dopers.\*\* I’ve also seen several Doper handles pop out at me from the page since I started reading Pratchett. **Rincewind** , **Twoflower** , **Bill Door** , **Ponder Stibbons** , and **SusanStoHelit** to name a few. \*banned about eight years ago, apparently \*\* Roger O Thornhill was the protagonist in Hitchcock’s _North By Northwest_ ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/14 "2014-06-25T00:37:20Z")
I had seen the movie, _This Island Earth_ well before joining the boards, but never noticed **Cal Meachem** was the protagonist’s name until I was looking up something else in IMDb. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/15 "2014-06-25T00:49:28Z")
I didn’t know what **Colibri** meant, or even that it meant anything in particular at all, until it was mentioned in some thread rather recently. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/16 "2014-06-25T01:01:24Z")
Some I knew but was never sure of: was **TVeblen** a reference to the economic philosopher who coined the term “conspicuous consumption?” **Guizot** for the French statesman/historian who described the reign of Napoleon III as a pack of bastards? **OurLordPeace** , however, was just a string of phonemes until a neighbor explained who Jesus was to me. Yes, sometimes life really is like a Chick tract. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/17 "2014-06-25T01:39:21Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > I always thought **Saltire** referenced “salty satire”, then I saw _Black Watch_ (a play about a Scottish military team in the middle east) and there was a bit at the end involving the saltire of the Scottish flag. Turns out “saltire” is not a made-up word, but is the criss-cross part of the Scottish flag. I now think of **Saltire** as Scottish. It’s not Scottish. It’s a heraldic symbol describing that form of diagonal cross like the St. Andrew’s Cross on the flag. But it’s on others like Jamaica and Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/18 "2014-06-25T01:59:11Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > **OurLordPeace** , however, was just a string of phonemes until a neighbor explained who Jesus was to me. Yes, sometimes life really is like a Chick tract. I think I remember in one of the “How did you come up with your username” threads that it was a play on the name of the band Our Lady Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/19 "2014-06-25T23:25:28Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I haven’t read any posts by him lately, but we also have had a Roger Thornhill post here.\* Apparently Cary Grant is a popular guy to Dopers.\*\* > > I’ve also seen several Doper handles pop out at me from the page since I started reading Pratchett. > > **Rincewind** , **Twoflower** , **Bill Door** , **Ponder Stibbons** , and **SusanStoHelit** to name a few. > > \*banned about eight years ago, apparently > \*\* Roger O Thornhill was the protagonist in Hitchcock’s _North By Northwest_ And \*\* Mrs Cake \*\* ! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451/20 "2014-06-26T00:34:16Z")
**Stranger on a Train**. The “aha” moment was when I read a review of the film in a book by Roger Ebert; later, I rented it through Netflix. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-discover-the-meaning-of-a-fellow-dopers-username-purely-by-accident-in-a-different-context/691451.md?page=2)