In the interest of a new field of social science, which I hereby dub cybersociolinguistics, I would like to submit the following question to those who peruse and contribute to this nobelest of forums: what’s up with all the “Girls” on this message board?
A few examples (these are off the top of my head, so sorry if some of them ain’t quite right): Girl Face, Moosie Girl, Girl Next Door, Office Girl, Bunny Girl, Glass Girl, neurotrashgrrrl.
I don’t have any gripes about the individual names per se, which are as fine as any; I’m just curious about the trend. After all, you don’t see many (or any?) posters here with “Boy” in their username – no Little Boy Blue, no Sailor Boy, no Boy George (well, ok, there’s mangeorge, if he’s still around). There’s Guano Lad and Uncle Beer, but I don’t see a similar trend in the male names.
I can imagine/speculate that some posters wanted to choose a name that makes it clear that they are female, and “Girl” of course accomplishes this. But there are plenty of other ways to suggest gender via one’s name – there’s Auntie Pam, Flora McFlimsey, PurpleCrackWhore. Falcon.
So … why all the “Girls” here? Not too many years ago, it was all but a federal offense to refer to a grown woman as a (diminutive) “girl”, but is that changing, or what? Is “girl” no longer regarded as diminutive? “You go girl!” Huh? What? Just curious.
To clarify my name, if you even care, I go by chick because it’s not absolutly accepted.
Being in the technical field of computers, about only 10% (last I heard) in the higher technical computer field are women. I add in chick for no other reason than I am a chick…I am not a lady (I cuss too much,) I am not a girl (I have already been there) and I am stuck in the construction world (among other trades) of thinking. 'Spose I coulda chosen techwoman, but somehow I envision a woman dressed in a Wonder Woman type outfit with pointy boobs and able to tackle the world. Somehow this does not fit me. < Wonder Woman…hoo hoo > <—terrible attempt at singing
I am feminine in my own way, but somehow chick works for me best.
BTW, I do have Flower in one of my AOL screen names and Wolf in one of my others…
I say thank god for the “girls”. I remember back in the old BBS days it was almost ALL men. I think that’s why I left it for a long time. It’s nice to know that it’s not just a bunch of us guys sitting around in here talking to each other. (note: You never saw me in the guy stuff thread,did you? Understood?)
“Teaching without words and work without doing are understood by very few.”
-Tao Te Ching
Democritus: yes, me too. But I was talking about names rather than the presence and participation of women/girls/chicks on the SDMB.
(And damn my typing! Make that “noblest” in the OP.)
I don’t quite understand how the name “Falcon” can be understood to be a female personnage, even though it may have been obvious from her posts.
For a while it seemed we were knee deep with female posters that used screennames that were variations on the word “cat” or “kitten”. I later found that my own sister (who does not post here) also uses a variation of the word “cat” as her web/net name and her email name. - MC
Sometimes their profiles don’t give a clue if they are male or female. I think people should try to choose the sex name right. Falcon could have been Falconess.
So far no one has thought that ‘handy’ is a girl. whew.
Only in chat PCW in real life i’m harmless as a kitten
She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
A female peregrine is a falcon in the narrow sense. All peregrines (as well as merlins, certain spaceships, etc.) are falcons in the broad sense, but the narrow sense is reserved for peregrine girls.
I think this thread has an excellent topic. I’ve also noticed the large number of “cats” among us, most of whom are also female. My theory is that women just get tired of being mistaken for men on-line, so they indicate their gender somehow in their names.
I have experienced something smilar. My nick is not necessarily indicitive of gender either way, but if i pop into an unfamiliar chat room, males assume I am a female that’s ready for action… odd eh?
She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
I have a friend like that BMU. His name online is Nightfox and most assume he is a female. We have had some hysterical times in chat room hot tubs messing with the guys that come on to him. It rates right up there with the time Sue and I were ChadCrackwhores on my Funniest Moments at Chat list.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
I’ve had female-sounding handles before and in chat rooms I would get hit on like the buzzer on Family Feud. Same thing happens now, but only when I decide to say that I’m female.
One of the kitties speaking up: Boris is right on in my case. I knew that a cat name would be obviously female (I’ve never seen a male with a feline nick), and I prefer that people know my gender before discourse begins. They would IRL, after all, since my real name is clearly feminine.
Online is the only place I get mistaken for male(she adds defensively) but when I had a non-gender-specific nick I was mistaken for a guy all the time.
A cat would only be thought to be a guy if he was TomCat or HepCat or something.
I’ve never been mistaken for the wrong gender on-line. I wonder how I would react. I guess it’s just that I’ve chosen a super-masculine name to match my hard, virile body and strong, uncompromising personality [giggle]. So from now on, in order to experience the thrill of being mistaken for a chiquita, I will be known as Debbi. Just ignore my UserName and imagine all my posts read aloud in a lilting contralto.
shrug Until I came here, I never had a problem with people not knowing what gender I was. Besides, I like having a gender-neutral name. Means I get less porno spam on IRC.
And handy…I’m sorry, but I would have NEVER used “Falconess.” Just sounds gay to me.
“But I can cry until I laugh or laugh until I cry.
So cut the deck right in half, I’ll play from either side…”
Girls can be called girls at any age because women want to be seen as youthful, while calling an adult man a boy will make him feel immature. MORE immature, in many cases.
