# Ramanujan: A minor complaint **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 7, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516 "2003-02-07T18:17:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Wrong_Girl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/21 "2003-02-07T19:37:41Z")
For the record, no–his real name is not Ramanujan. And he _did_ pick the name because of the mathematician. The weirdo just likes math a lot. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/22 "2003-02-07T19:40:16Z")
Kitarak has my blessing to change his name to Amazing Genius. It’s a user name. Doesn’t mean a damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/23 "2003-02-07T19:46:41Z")
Well, damn. Now I’m going to have to email the mods telling them to change my username from that of a well-muscled well-read well-hung ubergenious to something more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/24 "2003-02-07T20:03:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kitarak \* > I debated as to whether this should go in the pit, MPSIMS or one of the other forums, but it’s a (reasonably mild) complaint so it ended up here. Mundane, check. Pointless, check. You chose wrong. > [@](#): > > Don’t you think your user name is a little tasteless? Giving yourself the name of a famous person, particularily one widely recognised as a genius, is more than a little pretentious. Were someone to give themselves the name “Einstein” I’m sure few would disagree that it was arrogant and, no matter how smart the poster was, unjustified. I’m sure few would disagree that you’re being arrogant and presumptuous. (I’m aware of the irony, thanks.) > [@](#): > > On the whole I don’t have any other problems with you as a poster - I don’t neccesarily agree with what you write, and there’s a certain absence of capitalisation that could use some work, but there are no glaring problems. So why the fuck are we here? > [@](#): > > Despite this every time I see one of your posts I get a mild twinge of irritation (from the user name) which causes me to judge them in a less positive light. Of course, it could just be me who feels that way. I think you’re on to something there, **kitarak**. > [@](#): > > If you don’t do anything about it I don’t really care enough to get upset. I shall merely continue be mildly irritated by you, secure in the knowledge that I have made you aware of the problem and it’s now not my concern. 🙂 If you don’t fucking care, why are you subjecting everyone else (ok, just poor idiots like me who clicked on this thread) to your nitpickin’ non-problem? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/25 "2003-02-07T20:06:49Z")
I have Robert Kanigel’s book, _The Man Who Knew Infinity, A Life of the Genius Ramanujan_. It was a featured selection of the Book of the Month Club, and received excellent reviews in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere. He ate, drank, and dreamed numbers. He contributed too much to mathematics to list here, but his life story is inspirational. One of my favorite stories about him is the one about his visit to G. H. Hardy (another famous mathematician) at the hospital. Hardy noted that he had taken cab number 1729, and that he was disappointed that the number was singularly unexceptional. But Ramanujan instantly exclaimed, “Oh, but it is a very exciting number! It is the smallest integer that can be represented in two ways by the sum of two cubes!” (1^3+12^3 and 9^3+10^3). Despite his genius with number theory, he was inept in ordinary social situations and everyday living. It was quite some time, for example, before people in his dormitory figured out that the reason he never turned down his bed was that he didn’t realize that you could sleep under a blanket, and that it would help to keep him warm. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/26 "2003-02-07T20:13:36Z")
I really am a month. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/27 "2003-02-07T20:15:04Z")
\ Looks like another RPO. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/28 "2003-02-07T20:17:36Z")
Well, I am **Qadgop the Mercotan** in real life too! From my eponymous autobiography: > [@](#): > > “Qadgop the Mercotan slithered flatly around the after-bulge of the tranship. One claw dug into the meters-thick armor of pure neutronium, then another. Its terrible xmex-like snout locked on. Its zymolosely polydactile tongue crunched out, crashed down, rasped across. Slurp! Slurp! At each abrasive stroke the groove in the tranship’s plating deepened and Qadgop leered more fiercely. Fools! Did they think that the airlessness of absolute space, the heatlessness of absolute zero, the yieldlessness of absolute neutronium, could stop QADGOP THE MERCOTAN? And the stowaway, that human wench Cynthia, cowering in helpless terror just beyond this thin and fragile wall . . .” ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/29 "2003-02-07T20:41:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > Well, I am **Qadgop the Mercotan** in real life too! That’s got to help with patient compliance. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/30 "2003-02-07T20:47:08Z")
Qadgop, how does one claw through neutronium without a strong nuclear force generator? And you have any recipes that can be made with one? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/31 "2003-02-07T21:09:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robertliguori \* > \*\*Qadgop, how does one claw through neutronium without a strong nuclear force generator? > > And you have any recipes that can be made with one? \*\* My claws are equipped with the capacity to alter both the strong and weak force. At will. Recipe: Quark parmesan. 4 lb of quarks, at least 1/4 strange preferred. Pound flat in a containment field using the strong force to keep them from recombining, dip in beaten egg, and coat with neutronium (One particle deep only!). Put in dish greased with olive oil, and top with your favorite marinara sauce. Bake at the core of a G-class star for 45 minutes, covered. Top with mozzarella for the last 7 picoseconds. Dust with parmesan and serve with breadsticks and strange dark matter. Serves 2 ordinary Mercotans, or 0! Dexitrobopers. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/32 "2003-02-07T21:15:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kitarak \* > \*\* > I shall of course register right away for the “Posters Tars Tarkas has heard of” list. I hadn’t realised I wasn’t allowed to do anything before being on it. \*\* Oh, you’re on the list. But not in a good way. i haven’t seen anything Ramanujan has posted, but i already like him. and **mhendo** , you have nothing to worry about!!! ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/33 "2003-02-07T21:30:19Z")
May I take this opportunity to say that Bug Vomit was the best poster name ever here? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/34 "2003-02-07T21:37:14Z")
I thought Smartass was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/35 "2003-02-07T21:47:27Z")
I am actualy comprised of several particles. Just thought I should let you all know… ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/36 "2003-02-07T22:05:58Z")
This has to be one of the stupidest Pit rants I’ve seen in awhile, and that even includes **Cisco** ’s recent Pitting of **Shayna** , which sets the bar pretty high. As a math type, I’ve been aware of who Ramanujan was for decades. But someone calling him/herself **Ramanujan** or **KarlGauss** - what’s the big deal? Maybe I’ll change my handle to **Augustin-Louis Cauchy** , who is my all-time favorite mathematician. As others have noted, a lot of usernames are of persons who, in reality or fiction, are/were extremely remarkable. But our choices of handles don’t say but so much about us. **Enderw24** is not a child genius who saved the human race. **Sauron** isn’t really the Dark Lord from Tolkien’s fictional world. And I am **not** one of the greatest comedic geniuses of all time. (If you don’t believe me, ask my wife! ;)) [sub]OTOH, **Libertarian** really _is_ a libertarian. No ifs, ands, or buts. :)[/sub] All **Ramanujan** ’s choice of username means is that he’s in all likelihood a fan of the great Indian mathematician. It doesn’t mean he’s claiming to be a super-genius any more than **Gauss** or **Ender** is. So give this one a rest, **kitarak**. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/37 "2003-02-07T22:29:02Z")
I don’t see anything wrong with it, It is like he’s honoring Ramanujan, get it? But for that matter we did have a Adolf Hitler [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=732](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=732) ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/38 "2003-02-07T22:29:06Z")
“Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Coyote, Wile **E.** Coyote, **Su** pergenius.” And yes, as my user name suggests, I am hairy, lumbering, and fond of honey, and I have been known to shit in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/39 "2003-02-07T22:36:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k2dave \* > \*\*I don’t see anything wrong with it, It is like he’s honoring Ramanujan, get it? > But for that matter we did have a Adolf Hitler > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=732](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=732) \*\* What the hell kind of timewarp thread is that? 😛 I was confused for a minute there. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516/40 "2003-02-07T22:37:01Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **The Wrong Girl** _ > But word on the punctuation thing, **kitarak**. I’ve been gently suggesting the shift key for awhile now, but it’s been a losing battle. Eh. It’s up to him, I guess. Hell yes. Nothing I’d ever actually complain about, but damn. LOL Glad to know I’m not the only one. I like his name quite a bit, even though I kept misspelling it when he first came into my sights. ☹ Which is terrible, because I’ve always been fascinated by that particular mathematician, myself. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **december** _ > I really am a month. I _knew_ it! ;j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramanujan-a-minor-complaint/153516.md?page=3)