Member Name Etymology

[zoramargolis]

Waitman--what would you like to change your member's name to?

(Peter, Dick and Johnson are so fifty years ago.)

[Cizuka Seki]

I refuse to surrender my excuse for being a sick, spiteful, unattractive man who believes his liver is diseased.

Besides, I seem to recall from the earliest days of the site, an official diktat proclaiming that names could be changed only in the direst circumstances.

[i've probably changed 3-4 people's member names in the past couple of weeks! It's not a big deal.]

Waitman, it's true! I originally signed up using the silly name "Yebisu" because I am not very creative and I also just wanted a beer at the time.

Don thoughtfully recognized that I would never become a `*:;★ STAR ☆☆í

[Cizuka Seki]

HARRY PETERS, why hello there.

[monavano]

C'mon Watiman, change your name! Let's see whatcha got.

[Sundae in the Park]

Boy Howdy, do I have to disagree! I have a DVD of this show--which was taped for showing on PBS--with Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin, when they were young and at their very most beautifulness. Just astonishing! The theme song runs through my mind on many occasions. An ear-worm that is quite welcome.

Well, I think the bolded names* might have something to do with it ;-) For a matinee in DC with no actors of note, not so much. Well, maybe if they had stopped at the first act! But the tunes are catchy, so maybe I'll try to catch this recorded version. Thanks for the tip.

*I saw her in Follies last? fall and she definitely made the show for me. I think she can elevate anything!

[DonRocks]

I was "Busboy" on eGullet. Since eGullet's relationship with other food websites tends to be tinged with hostile paranoia (particularly if said websites were founded by a dissident former Senior Official and populated by Known Malcontents) and since I had agreed to become a Senior Official for eGullet in the wake of my predecessor's self-imposed exile, I thought I'd low-key it by taking on a different name for DR. Being uncreative about these things, I inflated my former syllables -- bussing becoming waiting, boy becoming man. And am now stuck with a handle I have hated almost since the instant I typed it in.

This gnawing resentment over my name (as with that boy named "Sue") is why I am such an asshole.

[DonRocks]

So...

I was raised as "Mike" but when I got to college I decided to go by "Sean" since all the correspondence, etc., had that name on it. Then I kept running into people from high school and before who knew me as Mike, so I started signing my emails "Sean Mike". Which got me the nickname of SnM in college, and is different enough I tend to use it IRL, as the kids wouldn't say.

My family and my brother's JMU friends tend to call me Mike, still, while at work I'm just Sean.

My Twitter handle is HighwayStar, which came from the days at UVA where we'd change our "real names" on the RS/6000s regularly. GWAR's spin-off band X-Cops did a cover of the song Highway Star, and it just stuck with me. I think I even had some stories with a character related to that song back on my days on alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo on USENET...

[u-bet!]

Most probably know that u-bet chocolate syrup is an ingredient in authentic New York-style egg creams, and therefore can make the connection between my user name and a love of egg creams (although I haven't had one in a while). I added the exclamation point when I first signed up going by an erroneous memory of what their logo looked like. Then I realized it does not have an exclamation point, after all.

[Anna Blume]

I chose a name at egullet that reflected my lingering academic identity as well as a rather obsessive interest in food. However, given the name, everyone assumed I was male. Around the time that I started to receive personal messages from members of this board, I went to a big Dada exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. Assuming new identities was a game among some of the best of the artists and I was very much a fan of R. Mutt and Rrrose Sélavy. Directed Tristan Tzara's "Gas Heart" in high school. Into Kurt Schwitters' collages and the somewhat connected art-box (Joseph Cornell). So, turning a corner from the room with Marcel Duchamp's urinal, heading towards a wall of Merz collages, I noticed what I remember as a wooden box, but it could have been a suitcase. Can't retrace my steps online and track down the piece, but it was an homage to Anna Blume, the imaginary object of Kurt Schwitter's heart in a (less satisfying) nonsensical, Dadist poem. That, too, made me smile since I have a thing for poetry and once spent a lot of time reading late medieval Italian men natter endlessly and eloquently on about women who they mostly made up in their minds. I decided it would be fun to assume an imaginary identity that wasn't exactly imaginary since it has an historical basis. Nothing to do with food, true, but "Anna Blume" sounds like a real name and is decidedly a woman's name. Until you know the back story, it also sounds less pretentious than my name on egullet.

[lion]

I've used some derivation of 'lion' online, in various forums or boards, because it's a loose translation of my last name.

And I'm fond of those great beasts who eat when they want and sleep all day!

[hillvalley]

hillvalley is a combination of the neighborhood where I grew up and my birthday. I have no idea how I came up with it but I started on eG as specialteach and thought it was dull. hillvalley is also a nice play on words for another area of my life that I don't share on the interwebs and I enjoy that irony. I also responded to hillvalley or hill back when some of you used to call me that in person. It has nothing to do with Back to the Future.

If you look at the contact list in my phone you will see handles and then the real name. With many of you, in my mind, your name is your handle. It makes introductions interesting sometimes.

I was "Busboy" on eGullet.

You'll always be Busboy to me.

[The Hersch]

I went to a big Dada exhibition at the National Gallery of Art.

I saw the same Dada show, and recognized your handle as having been inspired, or at least prompted, by it. I loved that exhibit. There was another wonderful show at the Phillips a few months later, of the Société Anonyme, featuring work by some of the same artists and their allies and contemporaries.

[DonRocks]

I saw the same Dada show, and recognized your handle as having been inspired, or at least prompted, by it. I loved that exhibit. There was another wonderful show at the Phillips a few months later, of the Société Anonyme, featuring work by some of the same artists and their allies and contemporaries.

Funny, I was at NGA just yesterday, and (now that you mention it), I noticed the Dada catalogue in the bookstore.

[Barbara]

*I saw her in Follies last? fall and she definitely made the show for me. I think she can elevate anything!

Don't get me started. I jumped on the 'puter as soon as tickets were available, because I informed Dame Edna that tickets to this was both my Christmas and Anniversary present. As I read later, after seeing this show a day after my birthday/anniversary, that she hadn't figured out how she would do this. No kidding. Let me just say that it will be cold in Hell before I get him to go to another musical. Thank Dog, I have girlfriends who are more "adventurous."

[DonRocks]

Don't get me started. I jumped on the 'puter as soon as tickets were available, because I informed Dame Edna that tickets to this was both my Christmas and Anniversary present. As I read later, after seeing this show a day after my birthday/anniversary, that she hadn't figured out how she would do this. No kidding. Let me just say that it will be cold in Hell before I get him to go to another musical. Thank Dog, I have girlfriends who are more "adventurous."

Back in the 1980s, Bernadette Peters had this "sexy, Betty-Boop-like flapper-girl thing" going for her, almost like Clara Bow (who I've been in love with ever since I first saw Wings).

[Barbara]

Back in the 1980s, Bernadette Peters had this "sexy, Betty-Boop-like flapper-girl thing" going for her, almost like Clara Bow (who I've been in love with ever since I first saw Wings).

She became a star at the age of 19 (!) in a trivial show called "Dames at Sea." She hasn't aged that much since then. I think she must have a portrait in her attic.

[Banco]

Backstage Right at the Kennedy Center Opera House there is a huge poster of BP in Annie Get Your Gun. There are many other posters from many other productions on the walls there, massive things intended for outdoor display, 9 by 5 feet or larger. But I always end up looking at this one because it's right where I often wait for an entrance cue. She's holding her revolvers in the air, which provides a double-phallic counterpoint to her pert, gravity-defying breasts fairly bursting through the plaid gingham that proclaims the false "frontier" innocence of her character. Then I think, "Steve Martin was such a lucky bastard."

[Tujague]

Yes, Tujague is the name of my beloved cat. But he was named out of memories from my first, life-changing trip to New Orleans, where my friend Hank Schlau took me to the city's oldest bar, Tujague's, where we spent many an hour meeting old and new friends, before retiring to some bare-bones accomodations in the Pontalba apartments on Jackson Square. Years later, my partner Bob and I returned to New Orleans and had dinner at Tujague's. That meal disappointed, but my dear old cat never has, and the memories of those wild nights in the French Quarter remain. Plus, it's a way to honor my Louisiana roots, my dad having been born and raised in Pineville (which is a lousy name for a cat).

[Sundae in the Park]

She became a star at the age of 19 (!) in a trivial show called "Dames at Sea." She hasn't aged that much since then. I think she must have a portrait in her attic.

This is what she looks like as of last week. I mean, are you kidding me??!!

Incidentally, I say a terrible staging of The Picture of Dorian Gray at I think the Round House a few years ago. The material, not the actors was at fault; they did their best.

[Barbara]

This is what she looks like as of last week. I mean, are you kidding me??!!

Tell me about it. She was the reason I was able to get Dame Edna to see "Follies." She and I about the same age, but I would be mistaken for her mother. She must come from another planet. I, on the other hand, have had to learn to grow old without minding it too much. Sigh.

[Cizuka Seki]

bernadette peters in The Jerk or madeline kahn in Blazzing Saddles?

[chefgunshow]

I refuse to surrender my excuse for being a sick, spiteful, unattractive man who believes his liver is diseased.

Besides, I seem to recall from the earliest days of the site, an official diktat proclaiming that names could be changed only in the direst circumstances.

I admire your principles. You're an inspiration to our organization.

[Xochitl10]

I'm half-Mexican and I like cocktails. One of the stories about how the term "cocktail" came to be claims that the word is derived from the name of an Aztec princess, Xochitl, who served drinks to soldiers. 10 was the number of my favorite baseball player when I was in college.

[DonRocks]

I'm half-Mexican and I like cocktails. One of the stories about how the term "cocktail" came to be claims that the word is derived from the name of an Aztec princess, Xochitl, who served drinks to soldiers. 10 was the number of my favorite baseball player when I was in college.

You're going to hate me for this, but speaking some Russian, your member name has *always* reminded me of "Hot Shit." How do you pronounce it, and who was the baseball player?

[Destruya]

Mine's been my 'gaming' tag for quite some time - nowadays I just hold onto it because it has absolutely no identifying characteristics attached to it...and it's easier than thinking of something else.

Other than that, it means "destroy" in Spanish, simply because "destruyar" didn't quite sound right rolling off the tongue, even when I was ~16, and "destruyalo" (destroy it) even less so.

[Xochitl10]

You're going to hate me for this, but speaking some Russian, your member name has *always* reminded me of "Hot Shit." How do you pronounce it, and who was the baseball player?

Hahahaha. In Nahuatl, the "x" is pronounced like an English "sh" and the "tl" is like an aspirated "l". So it's more like "Sochil" than "Hot Shit."

And it was Dante Bichette in the early years of the Colorado Rockies franchise.

[laniloa]

Mine is a made up Hawaiian word that cracked me up when I first encountered it when living there in 1994. I've used it on boards and websites since then. I also use it as a fake Hawaiian salutation. My grandmother, not knowing it was gibberish, used it too. My dad and I sign all email and cards with it.

[The Hersch]

Laniloa: But where does it come from? What about it cracked you up?

[Waitman]

This is disappointing, as several important posts have been deleted.

At any rate, I found myself in the Rodin Museum this morning, looking at "Naked Balzac."

Those who need to know, will.

No one needs to know.

[DonRocks]

This is disappointing, as several important posts have been deleted.

At any rate, I found myself in the Rodin Museum this morning, looking at "Naked Balzac."

Those who need to know, will.

No one needs to know.

[Restored two that I thought were unwanted]

Did you see The Gates Of Hell?

[Waitman]

Did you see The Gates Of Hell?

See them? I walk through them every day....

Yep. Though, not my favorite thing, impressive as they are.

[DonRocks]

See them? I walk through them every day....

Yep. Though, not my favorite thing, impressive as they are.

If you see The Gates Of Paradise in Florence (Ghiberti, Baptistery), they take on a whole new level; on the other hand, this could also take a lifetime of study putting it in the "acknowledged, but not committed to" category.

[Sthitch]

If you see The Gates Of Paradise in Florence (Ghiberti, Baptistery), they take on a whole new level; on the other hand, this could also take a lifetime of study putting it in the "acknowledged, but not committed to" category.

If you go to the Bargello you can see the two remaining competition panels for the commission of the doors. Ghibreti's winning example sits right next to Filippo Brunelleschi's entry. I would have hated to have had to judge the two, both are spectacular, but I believe that the judges made the right decision since the consolation prize for Brunelleschi was the commission to design the dome for the Duomo.

[Waitman]

If you see The Gates Of Paradise in Florence (Ghiberti, Baptistery), they take on a whole new level; on the other hand, this could also take a lifetime of study putting it in the "acknowledged, but not committed to" category.

This is like a Joe H. comment..."if you've had the Truite Bleu anyplace but le Veranda de Mon Cul 24 kilometers up a mule track from Courchevel in the French Alps, you have not really had Truite Bleu."

I think it's too busy. It's like dinner at Bucco de Beppo -- more is not better.

I prefer the simple compositions where he had the space and time to capture the extraordinary way a woman's body glides and curls.

This sort of thing.

[DonRocks]

I prefer the simple compositions where he had the space and time to capture the extraordinary way a woman's body glides and curls.

This sort of thing.

Or this?

You didn't just compare The Gates of Hell to Buca di Beppo, did you?

[Waitman]

Or this?

I do love Dobie Gillis. I thought that statue was just something a set designer came up with.

You didn't just compare The Gates of Hell to Buca di Beppo, did you?

I did. Thus ensuring that I will indeed pass through them.

[Dr. Delicious]

You may recall that when the internet was in its nascent stages, "nickname" generators were all the rage. "The Delicious" happens to be my Wu Tang nickname. I thought it was funny (and, perhaps, apropos) and jokingly demanded that I be referred to in this way amongst my circle of friends. It stuck, and so here we are...

[Dr. Delicious]

He was Assistant Minister for Colonization. My hat's off to anyone who gets that reference without googling it.

Old Man's War (among others), Scalzi

[porcupine]

Old Man's War (among others), Scalzi

Interesting. Tip of the hat to Scalzi, then, for referencing Orson Scott Card. "Hot Sleep", 1979.

[laniloa]

Laniloa: But where does it come from? What about it cracked you up?

It was part of the name of an apartment I was looking at. The roots of the word suggest they tried to dress up "tall building" and make it sound island style.

[thistle]

I think I've told a few people that Thistle was one of my much-loved cats (the most dog-like cat I've ever seen, she would come when you called her, she also had a fondness for corn on the cob & green beans), also a nod to my Scottish heritage (my Mom is from Nova Scotia (although she grew up in Brooklyn)& my grandparents had a farm there)...most of my names on various sites are those of my former pets, probably pretty easy to trace & decipher, but I'm not worried (unlike others in my family, who are all up in arms about govt. monitoring).

[Barbara]

When I signed up for eGullet, I stole the name "rosebud" from somebody on Garden Web, because I have no imagination. When we moved en masse to DonRockwell.com, I knew enough people personally to just use my first name. Duh.

(A side note: Waitman was Busboy on eG. So, when a "Mrs. B" signed in here, very early on, Don asked if that were me. I denied it, of course, which gave me a few seconds to figure who that was. I was correct. The late Stephanie Scher will always be Mrs. B to me.)

[DonRocks]

When I signed up for eGullet, I stole the name "rosebud" from somebody on Garden Web, because I have no imagination. When we moved en masse to DonRockwell.com, I knew enough people personally to just use my first name. Duh.

(A side note: Waitman was Busboy on eG. So, when a "Mrs. B" signed in here, very early on, Don asked if that were me. I denied it, of course, which gave me a few seconds to figure who that was. I was correct. The late Stephanie Scher will always be Mrs. B to me.)

Wow, I actually remember asking you, now that you mention it. [And you can always change your name, but believe me, Barbara is pretty coveted, I think.]

One other thing people may not know about: in addition to HillValley being instrumental in launching this website, you can thank Babka for her advice to make it a full-blown forum instead of just a blog - I was waffling between the two, and she gave me a very clear, unequivocal opinion.

[bbq4me]

Bbq4me says it all.

[Seanchai]

I've taken the name of my late, lamented antiquarian book business (still limping along in cyberspace, but not really).

[Toogs]

A name I have used in certain circles, and I changed to it because I always hated my previous name, which I use as a generic sign on and used here before I ever expected I would post.

[Kanishka]

As a few of you know, Kanishka is simply my first name. It still irks me to no end that "Kanishka" wasn't available as a handle on gmail way back in the day, and as those who know me really well know, my last name is so very long and complicated that having it as any sort of handle would be cruel. As for the etymology of the name Kanishka, my mother tells me it is after the famous Kushan dynasty king. My father, on the other hand, says it was my mom's favorite sari boutique back in the old country.

[thistle]

& every time I see your name, Kanishka, I think, varnishkes/buckwheat groats-now that I know it's your real name, I will separate it from the grain-you're lucky to have such a distinctive name....

[DrXmus]

I also picked this handle because I thought I wouldn't be posting. Normally I use "Beaker" or "Beakerhead". I have a cranium the same general shape as Beaker, the muppet, and the nickname stuck in college. When I signed up for DR.com it was a spur of the moment decision. IIRC, I thought I was signing up for a username, not necessarily my handle for posting. If I'd known better, I wouldn't have gone with DrXmus as I think it seems pretentious. I guess the name is self-explanatory, but what you may not know is that the Dr. part is a DVM, not an MD or PhD, which are probably first thoughts. And, yes, my last name is Christmus (not -mas).

bernadette peters in The Jerk or madeline kahn in Blazzing Saddles?

I had/have a huge crush on Peters in The Jerk. I love Kahn as Lily, but always thought she'd break me in half.

[Sthitch]

Dr. part is a DVM, not an MD or PhD, which are probably first thoughts. And, yes, my last name is Christmus (not -mas).

I cannot say enough good things about DVM's. To me my dogs are my very ill-behaved, yet incredibly lovable children. Like children they manage to hurt themselves in ever more creative ways or develop strange ailments (most likely caused by eating something elicit), but there is always a DVM that can figure out what is wrong without the patient telling them.

In the last two years I have lost two very special dogs, one way too young to lung cancer and the other to a confluence of mega-esophagus and IBD and if it were not for the compassion of our vet I am not sure how we could have gotten through either of them.

You are doing the Lord's work, thank you.