# Is my username stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910 "2005-06-19T13:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/21 "2005-06-19T14:41:32Z")
Then obviously you meant …quite sud and dupressing. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/22 "2005-06-19T14:43:05Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > Then obviously you meant …quite sud and dupressing. Is he trying to channel a character from _East Enders_ or summat? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/23 "2005-06-19T14:43:17Z")
If I used lol, I would currently be typing lol as a response. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/24 "2005-06-19T14:53:29Z")
> [@Ice Wolf](#): > > Is he trying to channel a character from _East Enders_ or summat? 😕 No. It is a sad thing but that is how fucked up our accent is. 😃 Would I swap it for another? Not on yor nully! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/25 "2005-06-19T16:03:14Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#): > > Hume? We have a winner! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/26 "2005-06-20T02:17:52Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > No. It is a sad thing but that is how fucked up our accent is. 😃 > > Would I swap it for another? Not on yor nully! 🙂 No, it’s not that. There’s confusion between “e” sounds and “uh” sounds in the Kiwi accent, sure – but not “sod”/“sad”. That bit made absolutely no sense. Methinks **NoClueBoy** has us mixed up with the Aussies. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/27 "2005-06-20T02:23:17Z")
> [@Ice Wolf](#): > > Methinks **NoClueBoy** has us mixed up with the Aussies. I just might. Can you give some phonetic examples based in SEV? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/28 "2005-06-20T02:30:30Z")
> [@Sophistry and Illusion](#): > > My guest membership expires in a couple of weeks, so I need to become a real member. But for some reason, I am gripped by the strange fear that my username is stupid, and I’ll regret it after a couple of years. It is an obscure reference that probably three people on the board will recognize. Does everyone else think it is just dumb? I know that of all the things in life to obsess over, this is among the dumbest, but I can’t help myself. I personally like the sound of your name although I hesitate to admit I’m unfamilure with the referance. Even the Hume doesn’t help. Would it be unfair to educate me on this so I can be in on it when I see you posting in the future? Either way, keep the name. It’s lyrical. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/29 "2005-06-20T02:32:30Z")
Keep your name- it’s fun and memorable. For a bad name example, look at mine. That name was assigned to me on another board when I first began using the 'net. I keep it because it’s bland and I can remember it. It’s misleading, too, as the numbers suggest a date that may have some meaning to me. Not so! I would change mine if I had a single creative bone in my body. ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/30 "2005-06-20T02:41:11Z")
I really like your username. But, I am a philosophy student, so maybe that influences me a bit. It did take me a little while to figure out why it sounded familiar though. I really hate my username, but I don’t know what to change it to (I changed it from just my real name to this which is no better at all… I just kind of changed it on a whim with no thought all). I’m glad you’re staying around. If I remember correctly you are a philosophy professor which is definately a plus in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/31 "2005-06-20T02:49:47Z")
I think your username is sort of self-important. I wouldn’t use it. But then, I wouldn’t use “sattua” anymore, either… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/32 "2005-06-20T02:55:44Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I would rather see a name like the ones posting in this thread than an amalgam of one’s real info which ends up looking dry and without personality. ::: _Enters **NoClueBoy** ’s name in the special Moderator book._ ::: ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/33 "2005-06-20T03:00:39Z")
> [@Sophistry and Illusion](#): > > We have a winner! **SRM** or Google? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/34 "2005-06-20T03:24:46Z")
I looked a bit and found: \*Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment. Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt, more properly than perceived. Or if we reason concerning it, and endeavour to fix its standard, we regard a new fact, to wit, the general tastes of mankind, or some such fact, which may be the object of reason and enquiry. When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.\* **Sophistry** - _A deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone_ Since we are here to “Fight Ignorance” I think your name is thought provoking and therefore a great choice. ---
**Author:** ![My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Darn_Snake_Legs)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/35 "2005-06-20T04:12:36Z")
I like the name. It describes the majority of my profession! ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/36 "2005-06-20T04:53:19Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > **SRM** or Google? I’m willing to share the prize money. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/37 "2005-06-20T07:43:35Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I think your username is sort of self-important. This was actually my real worry. I hate people whose usernames imply that they take themselves too seriously (e.g., “Seeker of Truth” and stuff like that). I initially chose Sophistry and Illusion b/c it is somewhat the opposite–I thought it was sort of self-deprecating. But I guess it’s hard to have a self-deprecating username which is an obscure reference to an 18th-century philosopher. If I _were_ to change it, it would be to a different obscure reference–maybe “Wooster” or “Wilberforce” in homage to P.G. Wodehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/38 "2005-06-20T07:52:24Z")
> [@Nicodemus2004](#): > > I looked a bit and found: > _Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion._ Yup. From David Hume’s _Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding_. I’m hoping that if I can keep in mind that Hume would commit every word I have every written professionally to the flames, it will help me keep my ego in check. ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/39 "2005-06-20T08:10:33Z")
I am glad to see that I am not the only one so compelled to refer to Hume. I go by the alias “Humian” in some other contexts. I don’t think it is “self-important” that you associate with his skepticism, especially if you put it in a self-deprecating form (which is how I interpreted it). While we are on the subject, I must share a quote that I was reminded of when trying to locate in my mind what your user name referred to, after seeing that it was from Hume. I didn’t realize then that it was the conclusion of the _EHU_, but instead I thought of this quote, which I must share: > [@](#): > > “Are you not mad,” insists the Catholic, “to cut one another’s throat about the preference of a cabbage or cucumber?” > “Yes,” says the pagan; “I will allow it, if you will confess, that those are still madder, who fight about the preference among volumes of sophistry, ten thousand of which are not equal in value to one cabbage or cucumber.” I have considered compiling a database of Hume quotes and pulling a random one for my signature after every post, e-mail, etc. I haven’t because I am generally not fond of signatures. But I might someday. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910/40 "2005-06-20T08:48:36Z")
My username is kinda dumb. I’d tell you the story, but it’s long and boring and lame, and you can search for it here anyway. I can’t think of anything better though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-username-stupid/308910.md?page=3)