# Explain your user name please! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 20, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239 "2007-08-20T13:46:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/181 "2016-07-12T17:17:09Z")
Once there was a moderator by the name of **slythe** that had a bit too much Tullamore Dew one night and decided to hold a “Rename The Moderator!” contest…and came _damn_ close to getting renamed **Chicken Of Bristol**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/182 "2016-07-12T17:52:50Z")
A little over twenty years ago I was in the middle of my software career. My boss would always marvel at how I kept thinking up odd combinations of inputs for testing and finding odd possible paths through the code that could blow up the programs. In design/testing sessions he said I would always come up with the corner cases, and I liked that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/183 "2016-07-12T18:31:07Z")
I’m sure I’ve posted this elsewhere, but my name comes from a character in a poem, written by a fictional poet in a novel (The Palace of Love) by Jack Vance. It is a play on the Latin phrase for “fear of death.” ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/184 "2016-07-12T18:41:43Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Clothahump is the **aged** Turtle Wizard from Alan Dean Foster’s Spellsinger novel series. At least you’re consistent, and have a thesaurus at hand as well. > [@Clothahump](#): > > Clothahump is the **elderly** Turtle Wizard in Alan Dean Foster’s Spellsinger novel series. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/185 "2016-07-12T19:32:13Z")
Mine should be obvious, since I am not a doctor nor is my first, last or middle name Jackson. OK, it’s a high school nickname. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/186 "2016-07-12T19:53:33Z")
I started out as **Phase42** , which was my original Internet handle for early chat rooms, when I first discovered the Web in 1996. It was a combination of the title of a ST:TNG episode I liked (_The Next Phase_) and the “42” from HHGTTG. It became my username when I eventually discovered the SDMB in 2003, and remained my Internet handle until 2008. Some time after starting a new job in 2006, the General Manager of the place took to addressing me as “ **Mister Rik** ” (not sure why; I never heard her address anybody else that way). I decided I liked it, and adopted it as my new handle. And, given that I had experienced some frustration in my early 30s with people online who saw “Phase42” and assumed that 42 was my age, it was with some personal amusement that I chose my 42nd birthday in '08 to officially change my username here. ---
**Author:** ![Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zuzu_s_Petals)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/187 "2016-07-12T19:55:36Z")
Mine’s pretty obvious to any film fans. Think Jimmy Stewart and Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/188 "2016-07-12T19:56:38Z")
I prefer to avoid highways, main-streams, flavor of the month, etc. After learning of this word years ago, I gave this nickname to a (more shunpikery) friend of mine. He’s never embraced it, so I’ve assumed it for myself. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/189 "2016-07-12T20:54:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Once there was a moderator by the name of **slythe** that had a bit too much Tullamore Dew one night and decided to hold a “Rename The Moderator!” contest…and came _damn_ close to getting renamed **Chicken Of Bristol**. 😃 I started to read that as a limerick, so I made one: There once was a moderator named **Slythe**. Who had too much Tullamore Dew one nigh…th. He decided to hold A naming contest so bold And ended up with **Czarcasm** for life. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/190 "2016-07-12T22:03:25Z")
Middle name is Anne, B-day is December 25th and I’m a huge fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber even before he composed Whistle Down The Wind with Jim Steinman, which included the song Annie Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/191 "2016-07-12T22:29:42Z")
I’m named after a kid’s movie, and the title character thereof. Go see if your local video store has it. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/192 "2016-07-12T22:55:25Z")
Had a lot of trouble registering (website wasn’t working) and someone made a joke about spam so I tried that and oddly it was the only one that worked. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/193 "2016-07-12T23:01:09Z")
> [@Zuzu\_s\_Petals](#): > > Mine’s pretty obvious to any film fans. Think Jimmy Stewart and Christmas. You’ve probably seen [this](http://i.imgur.com/c3zuH9I.jpg): ---
**Author:** ![Hanofer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c37758/32.png) [@Hanofer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanofer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/194 "2016-07-12T23:28:09Z")
My username is from a book I read as a kid, a fictional history of King Tut’s wife called The Lost Queen of Egypt. She had a handmaid named Hanofer, which supposedly means “beautiful brows”. Whether it actually means that in ancient or modern Egyptian I don’t know, but it stayed with me, and when I got online picked it as my handle. ---
**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:** [July 13, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/195 "2016-07-13T03:50:00Z")
A couple of months before discovering the Dope, I wanted to play Hearts on Yahoo! Games. Before the site would let me register to play, it insisted that I open a Yahoo! email account. I decided that because my existence was now defined by being Kayla’s dad, I might as well take that as my handle. Of course, Yahoo! claimed that the name was already taken (personally, I think they were lying and wanted to manipulate me into choosing something alphanumeric), as were kaylasdad01, kaylasdad02, etc., so I tried and succeeded with the current year. It turned out to be a convenient handle, so I’ve stuck with it for several applications. And NOW, I am of the opinion that posters whose handles no longer match their explanations should return to the thread and explain their new names. ---
**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:** [July 13, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/196 "2016-07-13T03:54:01Z")
Camping nickname. (Frisbee golf nickname was Golden Bear) ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/197 "2016-07-13T12:57:35Z")
I was spinning my wheels trying to come up with a screen name for an eternity (I mean like 8 or more seconds, if you can believe it), when suddenly the clouds broke open, crepuscular rays beamed down, and angelic choirs started singing. A deep voice resonating from the heavens said “look behind you” I spun around and there hanging on the closet doorknob was a cardigan sweater. Not being one to defy the will of the Almighty I took it to be the Sign it was intended to be and promptly adopted the moniker. This story is completely true. Except for the part about the heavenly voice. And the crepuscular rays. Oh, and the angelic choirs was something of a fabrication as well. Come to think of it, the cardigan in question was actually hanging from the valet stand, not a doorknob. But apart from those few slightly embroidered details, that is how I came to be **Cardigan**. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/198 "2016-07-13T13:59:46Z")
I had a dog named Bubba. Don’t judge me. I was in a hurry the day I joined. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/199 "2016-07-13T14:07:39Z")
That’s weird -I didn’t get an icon showing me that I’d posted on this years ago, Nevermind ---
**Author:** ![Sampsiceramos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Sampsiceramos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampsiceramos)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239/200 "2016-07-13T14:22:54Z")
My name is derived from the Danish spelling of one of Pompey the Great’s epithets - specifically, the name of a particularly pompous and decadent Parthian king who is mentioned, and whose name is used as a substitute for Pompey’s, in Cicero’s letters to Atticus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-your-user-name-please/416239.md?page=11)