# Explain you username **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 23, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694 "2012-02-23T03:51:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/121 "2012-02-24T00:37:50Z")
I had been lurking here for a while and needed to sign up quick to offer my two cents on a thread and selected this username because it just popped into my mind at that moment. I first heard it in an article about whitewater paddling (my main hobby) in which the sheriff of an Appalachian community was asked what he thought of all the kayakers that descended on his town for the spring high water. “Ohhh…they’s jus’ river hippies.” That stuck in my mind for some reason. I don’t look much like a hippie in real life. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/122 "2012-02-24T00:44:46Z")
Oddly enough, not the map company. [Dreamlife of Rand Mcnally](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl_TLWCJenQ) ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/123 "2012-02-24T00:46:39Z")
I was into flying radio controlled planes. My username is a basic maneuver. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/124 "2012-02-24T00:48:02Z")
I like rabbits. A lot. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/125 "2012-02-24T00:50:21Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > I am Cazzle, which evolved from Caz, which is a standard Aussie nickname for girls called Carol, which is my real name. However, it was a nickname mostly used by my ex and I have been meaning to change it for several years now. This thread just inspired me to fire off a PM requesting the name change. Thanks! So THAT’S where you’ve been!!! I missed you!! 😃 People at my work when I was an Admin Asst. would say to me “reallifename” would you do something for me and I’d say, “That’s Missy to you, bub.” Yeah. Spellbinding, I know. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/126 "2012-02-24T01:56:16Z")
I used to be \*\*Pochacco \*\*. That was the alias I used when I was playing a lot of online shooters in the 90’s. I thought it was funny to kill people named as a Hello Kitty character. But a few years ago I decided I wanted a searchable alias. If you Google “Pochacco” all you get are Sanrio sites. I’ve always admired hamsters for their quiet dignity, and I was amused by the idea of being the absolute master of something small and trivial. So … . ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/127 "2012-02-24T01:58:06Z")
> [@LaurenIpsum](#): > > Mine comes from [Lorem Ipsum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum), the pseudo-Latin placeholder text that you often see on dummy websites or samples of print layouts. Being a lover of language, I was intrigued by the story of where the phrase comes from. Lorem became “Lauren” to sound more like an actual name and make it clear that I am female - it’s not my real first name. > > I first used the name when I signed up for a MetaFilter account last year. I was already lurking at SD then, so when I created an account here too, I decided to stick with what works. [This may be of interest.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1461178185/downandoutint-20) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/128 "2012-02-24T02:01:41Z")
Colibri is Spanish for hummingbird. My doctoral research was on hummingbirds in Panama. It also refers to [Huitzilopochtli,](http://www.sfmission.com/gallery_files/site_pics/Mexico/Art_and_History/Huitzilopochtli-sacrifice.jpg) the Southern Hummingbird, Aztec god of war and human sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/129 "2012-02-24T02:06:00Z")
Camping nickname from long ago. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/130 "2012-02-24T02:29:49Z")
Mine does not make sense anymore. My first job while I was on active duty in the army was as an Aeroscout Observer. I got to fly around in OH-58s and have fun. OH-58s have a perfectly good name(Kiowa) but we always just called them 58s. I decided to get out but stay in the National Guard. I was surprised to see that my Guard unit still used OH-6s. Something I didn’t expect to see outside of a museum. The OH-6 has a perfectly good name (Cayuse) but since Vietnam it has always been called Loach. Loach was derived from LOH, Light Observation Helicopter. When I was looking for a name I decided on Loach and have used variations ever since. A little while later my job and the helicopters went away and I went into tanks. Then the tanks went away and I am currently a Combat Engineer. I haven’t been in a Loach for at least 16 years but the name remains. Some assumed it had to do with the fish or the director. Nope, the helicopter. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/131 "2012-02-24T02:35:36Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Don’t. I like it. Thanks! In reality, I’m too lazy to come up with anything new, anyway. Besides, if I changed to something else..well, let’s say (random username) I wanted to change to “Morning Addition.” Then I’d be “Morning Addition is the new Digital is the new analog.” So I guess I’m kinda stuck. -M/A/D/a ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/132 "2012-02-24T02:44:50Z")
I give up. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/133 "2012-02-24T03:40:12Z")
I used to have two cats, which were two cats too many. Now I have just one cat, and he’s eighteen. Soon, I may be **Not Any Cats**. Nah, I’ll probably scrape up a couple of kittens from somewhere. And when those get old and die, I’ll be too old to get more. That’s an upsetting thought. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/134 "2012-02-24T04:02:05Z")
Named myself after Janis Joplin & threw in a nod to Big Brother. Been using this nick & variations of it all my online life. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/135 "2012-02-24T04:05:20Z")
India. 1979. I was on the fourth night of a two-day opium and sex orgy with a high-ranking Madagascaran general and a half-dozen east-Asian college co-eds/call girls. The general and a girl named Nomi went out for cigarettes. I was eating the last of a lemon cake, and trying to make conversation with one of the hookers, but her English was far from understandable in my opium-induced state. I told her “That’s enough honey. No more talking.” She said, “Lendon vake?” I said, “Honey, let me eat my lemon cake cuz I want to go to bed.” “Lendon ved?” she said. But at that point, my last hit off the pipe did something to me, and her words began to echo off the walls. "Lendonvedenlendonvederlendervedendervedderlendenvedderlenderveddenderlendervedder… “Len…der…ved…der.” I was lost in the sound of her voice bouncing around my eardrums, and I hadn’t noticed the general had come back, and was standing over me. He was repeatedly asking me if I was okay. I finally realized he was talking to me, and I said “Yeah…yeah.” Then he asked, “But are you _happy_?” I looked at him, nodded my head slowly, and said, “No.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/136 "2012-02-24T04:09:30Z")
I’m a Marx Brothers fan. Rufus T. Firefly was the name of Groucho’s character in _Duck Soup_, the greatest film comedy of the pre-Monty Python era. > [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > with bonus mental image of olives marching in formation. I’ve loved your username for years, on account of that image. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/137 "2012-02-24T04:28:17Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > So THAT’S where you’ve been!!! I missed you!! 😃 There was close to an hour between changing my name and posting. I expect thousands were on the edges of their seats, wondering what had become of me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/138 "2012-02-24T05:23:22Z")
Think Professor Fate from The Great Race. ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/139 "2012-02-24T05:31:05Z")
my real name is oliveoyl~ ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694/140 "2012-02-24T07:30:42Z")
Back in the early days of [del]wasting time at work[/del] the Internet, I was a member of a dial up user net thingy, and being very much into the Roppongi nightlife at the time, it was sort of a self-mocking name. It’s followed me for a couple of boards. Settling down as a middle age, non-partying old fart, I’ve thought of changing my user name, but as I go in waves of posting and then getting too busy, I’m not sure if people would still know who I am (not that many do anyway. . .) so I’ve kept it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-you-username/613694.md?page=8)