What's in a username?

[bironic]

Happy birthday to ME! And to those of you who have been or will be celebrating this week: synn, firestorm717, elynross and anyone else I've missed. (I wish the My LJ page would display the previous few flist birthdays in addition to the ones coming up.) To those to whom this applies, thank you for the well-wishing, the smut linkage, the promise of food, and the incidental gifts of commenting and fic previews and beta-ing -- and to think, it's not even noon.

Birthdays are strange things. They want to be singled out as special and somehow important, but it usually feels forced. Last year I bought myself a plane ticket and flew the hell out of here. That was a nice present. This year, though, the annual vacation has come and gone and I'll be spending the day half-asleep at work. It promises to be thoroughly ordinary. Not bad, just ordinary.

Then I realized that there is something that would bring more joy into this momentous Wednesday, and it's a something you can help me with. (It's not a ficlet request; I wouldn't ask that of you, at least not on such short notice.) See, this is my first birthday on LiveJournal, and that's an occasion worth celebrating. I love you all to pieces -- I can't say it enough. And a great gift would be sharin' the love and growing a little closer to all of you. How? By telling me, and one another, about your LJ usernames.

What does your username mean? How did you come up with it? Have you had it so long you hardly think about it? If you've become unhappy with your choice, what would you change it to? Have you changed it before?

Say as much or as little as you want to. You shouldn't feel guilted into participating, but it would be really nice to hear from everyone on this one, even if I've heard some or all of your rationale before (because others probably haven't) and even if you're usually a lurker (because I still see your names on my Profile page and wonder). Even if you're at Lumos and won't read this for another week, dammit.



Bironic is, as you may have guessed, a melding of "Byronic" and "ironic," with the benefit of also having the prefix "bi-."

Why "Byronic"? Thanks to an offhand comment by a wonderful professor, I fell into Romantic studies at school, specifically Byron and modern popular culture. That led to a series of papers that inspired my first submission and subsequent presentation at a fan conference, which led to my second, both of which involved meeting some awesome people and becoming part of the fandom community in which I'd only previously lurked, which in turn led (in part) to the creation of this LJ. Without that original link from Byron to pop culture studies, I don't know whether I'd be here today. I also have Byron-glasses like some people have slash-glasses (well, I have those too). So he needed to be included in the username.

"Ironic" because I wouldn't be myself without sarcasm. It may not come out on LJ so much, what with all the caveats of netiquette and interacting through inflectionless words with people who don't know you, but in person I'm heavily sarcastic. Those of you who know me in RL will attest to this. It's been getting me in trouble lately, actually. I love ironic wit in friends/acquaintances/etc. and in fictional characters (Snape and the entire cast of House spring immediately to mind). I love the dry British humor that puzzles so many of my compatriots. Switching the "y" in "Byronic" to an "i" seemed a perfect choice.

"Bi-" was thus a byproduct. It's not a personal statement but I'm pleased it's there because I'm very interested in (so-called) alternative sexualities and fluid gender identity, things we get to play with all the time in fic and fandom.

The spelling worries me from time to time because I fear that some people aren't getting the pun and are trying to pronounce it "bee-ro-nique" or something.



Your turn.

Comments

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday! ^_^ Here's to wishing you another great year and lots of House/Wilson cake~

Oh, what an interesting story <3. Well, I don't have much behind mine...I originally went by Starwind77 on IRC simply because it sounded nice and 7 has always been my lucky number. However, I ran into some nasty trouble with this control freak stalker type who was...ah...making very unwanted advances, and ended up changing my username as well as dropping off the Internet for a year. Firestorm just sounded cool, and I always seem to push two random words together. The 1 is there simply to break up the two 7's so it isn't so obvious, since I almost always tag two 7's on the end of my usernames.

Well, that was a pointless little story. Maybe next time, I'll make a username based on some deep existential philosophy, or something.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thanks muchly! I don't know how House/Wilson cake would work, but I definitely wouldn't mind some. *drifts off into sudden vision of them putting cake to good use*

Firestorm does sound cool. It makes me think of this old After Dark screen saver with multiple strings of color that drew spiralling patterns across the black screen -- at the time it made me think of ion storms from Star Trek, maybe because that was its name (I can't recall). And I like your 717 -- it's symmetrical, and they're pretty numbers. Though I thought for sure until last week that your birthday was July 17th because of it.

[musicisbelievng.livejournal.com]

happy happy.

my username is from a stage song (big surprise), 'the one you know'. the line is "music is believing, the more you close your eyes the more you hear."

i just think it's a really eloquent way of saying how deep music can be.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

That's my favorite song of theirs. By a lot.

And you had to chop out the 'i' because of the username character limit?

[lysanatt.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, hon.

I'll share my very short and boring story about my username with you here: Lýsa was one of the horses I have owned - and one of those I loved the most - and when I started hanging out on a Icelandic Horse forum some ten years ago I used her name as my username. I have used it ever since.

The '1' was put in the end because some #¤#"W"//&/(/&!!#¤%(/ bitch had taken my name before I decided that I needed an LJ.

So, a rather boring story, but Lýsa is quite a bit grown into being a part of my identity.

The first Lýsa, the horse, is still alive and produces happily a beautiful foal every year.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Everyone seems to think their stories are boring, but they're not! Yours is lovely. Now I will be reminded of your love for Lysa-the-horse when I see your username.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday! I totally lose for IMing with you last night and not realizing I should say it then. I almost never look at my My LJ page. :: hangs head ::

Anyway, my username. There is a story, and it is not boring! XD

I used to hate fanfic. I wrote a lot of original fic and the idea of people possibly one day using my characters to write their own stories made me bristle. Couldn't they come up with their own damn characters? How uncreative did you have to be to write fanfic? And some of it was just so horrible. So I decided I was going to troll around the HP fandom and flame all the crap stories I found. To get around people who turned off anonymous commenting, I created the journal name "weasleycest4eva."

Unfortunately for my mean-spirited plan for fun, I almost immediately came across fanfic that I could not make fun of. It was well-written, creative, canon-compliant and interesting. I told the author that I'd been looking for fic to flame but couldn't bring myself to say anything bad about hers. She challenged me to start writing fic myself, and I did.

More than a year later, my tastes in fanfic had changed dramatically and I was still known by this name that was meant as a big joke. So I bought a rename token and got thinking about what the best name (that wasn't already taken) for me would be. Obviously, I decided on this one. Taken from my userinfo page:

thewlisian
1. n. A fan of David Thewlis.
2. adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of David Thewlis.
afer
n. Taken from the binomial name "Orycteropus afer" which is the species name of the aardvark.

WHY?
niav thinks Thewlis looks like an aardvark. I have embraced it.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you commented; I remembered shortly after posting that you explain your name in your profile. But lo, there is more to the story! Hurrah.

That's a really interesting anecdote, how you moved from being an original-fiction snob trolling and fic-hating to fic-writing despite your best efforts, essentially because of the work of one good author. I love that you wrote her to tell her about your "problem" and that in trying it yourself, you "saw the light."

Maybe part of the fascination of your story for me is that I can't remember a time when I was reading fanfic without understanding the joys of writing it. Thanks to a few shelves of Star Trek paperbacks, I was indoctrinated into the basics of fic-writing before the Internet came along (the Internet being where I first encountered "real"/amateur fanfic). I'd written some stuff in Vampire Chronicles fandom by that point too which has never left my computer. So when I started encountering fic for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc., it wasn't a completely foreign concept and I had no desire to flame. Well, maybe the bad ones, but mostly it was pity. :)

And of course I love your combination of David Thewlis and aardvarks. I got a kick out of it when I first saw your screen name way back when (oh, the dark and long-gone days of THREE MONTHS AGO), along with your top graphic and mood theme.


I totally lose for IMing with you last night and not realizing I should say it then. I almost never look at my My LJ page.

Me either -- I'm terrible about birthdays generally. Half the time I completely forget and the other half I neglect to get the person a present. No apologies necessary! Besides, I think I signed off before midnight, so you're in the clear.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday! Have a great day, with lots of cake and alcohol and Wilson. *g*

I'm Swatkat because it's a nickname that people sometimes use for me (because it sort of goes with my name) and because I quite like it. The SWATKats was a show that used to air on Cartoon Network - still does, I think - about superpowered cats who fought crime. I would watch it religiously every afternoon after coming home from school (mostly because there was nothing else to watch. it wasn't bad, though). I had to use 24 because there's some moron who's already taken swatkat and hasn't bothered to update his LJ since 2001 (ARGH!). I picked 24 because it's a pretty number, because my birthday's on it and somehow that's supposed to be really lucky for me although I'm not sure why (my mother says so. who knows?) and because if you read it backwards it's 42, which is also a very cool number as it's the answer to everything.

PS

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

The spelling worries me from time to time because I fear that some people aren't getting the pun and are trying to pronounce it "bee-ro-nique" or something.

I got the pun. *g*

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

I promised it, so here we go:

Kabal is a screen name I've used for about 5 years. I came up with it for some forum or other because I needed a name and didn't have one that wasn't related to some rpg character or other. (Both my regular emails - the yahoo and the hotmail - are named for characters.)
I chose Kabal because I had just read Clive Barker's "Cabal" at that time and it was on my desk in front of me. Also, I'm interested in weird occult stuff, like tarot, and Kaballah was one thing I was looking into at the time.

Kabale is a name I had to make because some stupid kid who hasn't updated his LJ since 2001 has the name Kabal. (Which is incidently the name of a Mortal Kombat character - something I was utterly oblivious to.) I ponder mailing him once in a while and asking if I can have the name...
Kabale is also the Danish word for solitaire, so there's a bit of a joke there - as I am geekish enough to enjoy solitaire - as well as crosswords and jigsaws.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Knew your name was witchy-occulty but it's cool to hear the specifics (Clive Barker and Kabbalah). It's too bad we didn't have time at Patronus for you to do our tarot readings; maybe at Sectus!

Kabale is a name I had to make because some stupid kid who hasn't updated his LJ since 2001 has the name Kabal.

Bleh. You can commiserate with swatkat24 above...

I've always wondered why you tacked the "e" onto the end. For a while at first I kept forgetting to add it.

Kabale is also the Danish word for solitaire, so there's a bit of a joke there - as I am geekish enough to enjoy solitaire - as well as crosswords and jigsaws.

Double meanings are love. Especially when they have to do with being geeky.

But cripes, is solitaire geeky? *adds another occasional hobby to the list of reasons for social ostracism*

[wickedblonde.livejournal.com]

Hey there Stompy happy birthday!

So my username. Where to begin. I'm a Ginny fan so a while back I needed a username elsewhere, the one I wanted was taken so I came up with this instead. So when I created my LJ I wanted the same username here. The 1977 is the year i was born, and mainly it's there because plain gingergirl is taken by some girl who has never ever bothered to write anything in her LJ (since she created the account back in 2001), GRRRRRRR.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

What is going on? You're the third person so far whose ideal username was hijacked by someone who hasn't updated since 2001!

Thanks for sharing. :)

[ryokophoenix.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday! I did not know, and this makes me sad. Perhaps I should look at that LJ page more...
But *HUGS*! Hope you've had a wonderful day (...at work)! :D

For the name...that's remembering a while back now.
Let's see. 'Ryoko' came from the anime series Nadesico, which was one of the first readily available here in Aus. My friends and I watched the entire series in marathon form one night, by the end of which three of us were calling each other by the names of three of the characters (Ryoko, Hikaru, Izumi). Am I still like the character? She leans a bit more towards the angry side, but she's extraordinarily Gryffindor. So perhaps. Are the three of us still the closest of friends? Er. Possibly not. :)
Phoenix is simply a reoccurring theme throughout my life - seems to pop up everywhere. First the idea of it fascinated me, then the imagery. Then I discovered that my family's motto is Resurge Tento - strive to rise again. I received two seperate phoenix necklaces on the same birthday, from two people who didn't know all of the above. There were more little events after I actually chose the name, including Fawkes and the Order of the Phoenix - which just make it all the more awesome.

Long enough answer? :P

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yes, quite satisfying, thank you! I figured "anime + OotP" but your phoenix coincidences are way cooler. Also, I am infatuated with your family's motto.

Plus, Marauders icon! *love*

[synn.livejournal.com]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! (again : ) and again!)

ummmm...
I guess I'll tell my story, since I don't knowif you ever heard it. You know my aim name was papierangel, which was an abbreviation of papier-mache angel from a h.s poem. I hated it almost before I'd completed registering it. So, when I created an ICQ screenname I changed it to bornagainsynner, b/c that was the point in my life when I was starting to change my attitude about things; starting to talk more, and trying to enjoy life more. It was a reminder that hedonism is ok to a certain extent, and not to avoid being myself simply b/c other people would disapprove.
I liked the name, and when I registered for livejournal I wanted to keep it... but it's way too long. bsynner leads to the abbreviation of bs, so that's out, and pretty much every abbreviation of it except synn sounded dumb. So I picked synn, short and simple.
I would change it now, if I felt like and had the money for the fee, simply b/c everyone rolls their eyes and just sees another angsty, unimaginative name in it, since the origin isn't clear. I'd probably change it to something related to threesidedorchid, since that's the author name I've decided on.
the end. : )

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I think 3sidedorchid would make a marvelous LJ name. And poo on people who judge by usernames -- I know it's unavoidable, but people should know better than to dismiss users whose names they don't like, since, as with your story, the name might be older or have an origin they aren't aware of. People are dumb.

And I like papierangel a lot. It's pretty.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Your choice of name may be simple but your prose never fails to make me laugh.

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

I've got a long, and only slightly interesting story about my name.

When I first started writing the only person who knew was my writing partner, Niahm. My real name is uncommon, and usually masculine, so I decided that I wanted to be RM Williams (a company that makes mens workwear - include Driz-a-bone coats). And 'Rose' was the only R name I could think of that wasn't already the name of someone I knew. So I submitted my work as Rose Williams.

When I couldn't put a space in my username at Twisting the Hellmouth, I shortened it to RoseWill, which is my name on all forums accept YouTube. But when I got an LJ, I kept rosewilliams as my username, because I perfered the rhythm of it.

Earlier this year my housemate (with my permision) gave other real life friends my LJ name. That was fine, because I liked the looks I got for my fic writing habits. But I was already a little bored of the name. And something had happened that I hadn't expect - I wanted to meet the people I'd met online. I no longer wanted my pseudonym so obvious. And I didn't want real life friends to have to call me Rose.

I wanted to be sophronia: it is my favourite of Italo Calvion's invisible cities, and I wanted the literary reference. But that was already taken.

I have studied Japanese Ink Brush painting for years, and it's something that has influenced a lot of what I do. I sign my name in Chinese characters that mean second (or runner up), maiden, and silk. So that's where secondsilk comes from. Also, I liked that it started with 's,' because it's a blue letter (rather than a red one, like 'r'), and the 'second.' The spy in David Eddings's Belgariad is called Silk, and I always wanted to be a spy.

I got this default icon, a window rose, between deciding to change my name and actually changing it. But I'm keeping it now because it's pretty.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I've got a long, and only slightly interesting story about my name.

Ach, you people and your convictions that no one wants to hear your explanations. Why do you think I made this post? :P

I don't know of the company RM Williams but can I just say that Driz-a-bone is a great name for a (rain?)coat?

When I couldn't put a space in my username at Twisting the Hellmouth, I shortened it to RoseWill...

Ah, Twisting the Hellmouth. I found that site just before it went down and read a bunch of the Harry Potter crossovers before it disappeared, esp. the Willow 'shippy ones. Come to think of it, wasn't there a really long Willow-centric fic posted elsewhere in which she traveled back in time (or an AU where she originally existed a century or two ago) and was called Rose?

I wanted to be sophronia: it is my favourite of Italo Calvion's invisible cities [...] But that was already taken.

Mm, I'd really like to read more of Calvino's work. I've got Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler on the shelf at home...just need time to get to them. Alas that your first choice was already taken! Was it by someone who hasn't updated since 2001, perchance?

That's really interesting about the ink brush painting. Hearing about it, I'm surprised your icon is the stained glass and not two or three of those characters in your name.

I got this default icon, a window rose, between deciding to change my name and actually changing it. But I'm keeping it now because it's pretty.

It's also a fixture within House LJ communities -- at least, it is for me. One can always tell at a glance whether you've read a fic yet or not.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Names have always been very important to me, so I'm restraining myself from writing a treatise :)

I had a different 'fandom name' for XF and WW, but this one is who I am now. I used to be (well, still am, really) a big fan of the now-defunct comedy trio The Doug Anthony Allstars, or DAAS.



The first message board I ever posted on was one related to them, and pressed for a username, I opted for the stunningly original 'daasgirl'. Which was of course taken, but by someone who did not seem to be active. So with brilliant ingenuity - and I hope you're following the sarcasm here - I opted for the variant 'daasgrrl'. I liked the symmetry of the 'a's and the 'r's and 'grrl' has this femgeek vibe about it which I also approve of. So it became an email address, an lj account, and now my fandom name. I like it because it's simple, and fannish, but not overtly so.

It has come with the interesting side-effect that people have been known to think I'm German, or have Germanic affiliations, which is completely incorrect. And this has been an interesting topic :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

They're cute! Except perhaps for the country-western outfits. I assume they sang as well as doing comedy? Or were they singer-comedians? (Note how I am too lazy to go look them up and get some context.)

Names have always been very important to me, so I'm restraining myself from writing a treatise :)

Restraint is overrated. More writing! she cried.

It has come with the interesting side-effect that people have been known to think I'm German, or have Germanic affiliations, which is completely incorrect.

I admit I'm one of those people. Didn't think you were German yourself -- well, maybe way in the beginning before I started "getting a feel" for individuals in the House communities, but I don't remember -- since your profile says otherwise, but I did think there was some Germanic/Scandinavian influence to the first half because of the double-"a". That maybe you liked a particular word in one of those languages or something. Maybe because it reminds me of the Easter egg decorating company Paas, which has Dutch origins.

'grrl' has this femgeek vibe about it which I also approve of

Yes, that's it! I couldn't quite put into words the feeling I was getting from that part of your name, at least not without writing an incoherent paragraph about feminist movements, and "femgeek vibe" captures it perfectly.

And this has been an interesting topic :)

It worked! With the double benefit of finally getting to hear everyone's stories and having an enjoyable diversion yesterday. Am very glad that you've enjoyed it as well.

[captain-tulip.livejournal.com]

Ok, I love this, because I have this ready always when it's someone's online birthday and I can whip it out.







Happy birthday! *grins* Hope it's filled with all those heavenly things, like gluttony and sloth and lust. :)

I was pretty sure I got your name, but I was little uneasy because sometimes people create these names and you say, "Oh yes, I get it! How wonderfully clever!" and they're like *blinks*, "What?". *headdesk* But I'm glad my suspicions were right, and that I was saying it in my head properly. As for my name...well. Not nearly as interesting as yours, I must say.

Captain because of three things: 1) Because O Captain! my Captain! by Walt Whitman has been one of my favourite poems for a long time (I was, of course, utterly thrilled to see it on Dead Poets Society with RSL!) 2) Because I once played Captain Hook in a high school production, and it kind of stuck with me. The big moustache, the cynical monologues, the fantastic costume - gah, I loved every minute of it, and I still get people talking to me about it to this day. And 3) Because I love Hook and Pirates of the Caribbean, and all the captains therein. I've also always been bossy a leader of sorts, so it seemed a natural choice.

Tulip because...*ponders*. Well, there was night, a drunken night, and I don't remember much about it except the next day everyone was calling me either Tulip or Cookie. (?!?) Not very encouraging, really, but I decided I liked Tulip better than Cookie for an LJ name, because we don't even say cookie here, so yeah. Also, I hate my real name. It's just - I don't know. It's not me because it's so utterly me - does that make sense? *g*

Anyway. There you go. My utterly uninteresting tale. I feel like I've sold part of my soul. Hope you have a nice birthday! :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Cake! How did you know I was turning 9?

Now we just need to find a way to get a little House and Wilson in the picture to realize firestorm717's birthday gift above.

The fact that your username thingy says "O Captain! my Captain!" gave a pretty good hint where that part of your alias came from, but I thought you liked the poem because of DPS and not the other way round, and am happy to find otherwise. Hooray for lit geekery.

And for theatricality. Playing Captain Hook sounds like such fun. Have you (not to entirely change the subject or anything) seen An Awfully Big Adventure, where Alan Rickman gets to do it and is scarily great at it? Going by your email name I expect you have witnessed the glory.

It's just - I don't know. It's not me because it's so utterly me - does that make sense?

I think so. That it's such an integral part of who you've always been that it doesn't express anything about you now?


"I am selling my soul."
"Just a little piece. And you are getting something in return."
"I said I was selling it. I didn't say I was giving it away."

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

OMG I SUCK.

Ahem. Happy belated birthday! I'm so sorry to have missed this post yesterday!

Wishing you lots and lots of chocolate and H/W goodness as well; I hope you enjoyed the day!

"Catilinarian" means "relating to Catiline" (someone had already taken Catiline as an LJ name). Lucius Sergius Catilina, or Catiline, was a Roman populist rebel of the late Republic on whom I have had a raging crush ever since we read an account of his life in Latin class (and the fact that the class was taught by a young, passionate, GORGEOUS doctoral candidate who was fond of declaming passages out loud didn't hurt). Catilina had been a young lieutenant of the warlord Sulla in the bloodiest days of Sulla's reign, and then twenty years later he ran for consul on a platform of land and wealth redistribution and a programme to care for the veterans of the civil wars. Cicero managed to convince the upper classes that Catilina was a threat to them, and Cicero beat him out for the consulship, at which point Catilina formed a plan to take Rome - with an army from the outside, and by fomenting riots from within - but his co-conspirators in Rome were caught and executed, and Catilina was left to try to make the assault on Rome with his small, rag-tag army. He was killed in battle; according to Sallust, they found him deep within the enemy ranks, dead consular troops all around him, after he'd insisted on leading the fighting on foot with his men, while the generals on the other side sat on their horses up the hill and watched.

So, yeah - young lieutenant, populist revolutionary, ferocious warrior, and apparently gathered a lot of his young male followers by sleeping with them. You can kind of see how he captured my girlish heart. :)

Hope that wasn't too dull!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're a terrible friend, oh my God how could you.

My previous understanding of your username went something like this: "Roman guy + similar to real name + suffix = catilinarian." Thank you for the background! Nice image with the ring of dead troops and haughty, removed officers up on the hill. (I mean that.)

Unfortunately I had a flashback for a moment to ZENOBIA with the classical civilization strife and futility of uprising. *shudder*

young lieutenant, populist revolutionary, ferocious warrior, and apparently gathered a lot of his young male followers by sleeping with them. You can kind of see how he captured my girlish heart.

No... He doesn't sound anything like the other men you've been attracted to in all the time I've known you. You've really changed a lot since that class. :P

[elynross.livejournal.com]

...what with all the caveats of netiquette and interacting through inflectionless words with people who don't know you...

Wait. I'm supposed to be trying for inflectionless?

That explains so much.

Also, thank you, and happy birthday in return!

My lj name. Um. When I first started writing slash, I was plain old Ellen R. -- just in case there was another Ellen out there, which there wasn't so much until much more recently. I was solely in HL fandom at that point, and I'd just been through a lot of thought about taking on a name other than my own, due to a stint in a medieval recreation group, where I finally realized I just wasn't comfortable as anyone other than Ellen.

Then I started up an (omg still not finished) collaboration with killabeez and wickedwords. We finished a few chapters, and edited (assuming it was a longer than usual but still not never-ending, smutty, plotless little AU), and thought we could post a chapter a week, or so, and keep ahead of ourselves, which, no.

But then it came time to create a webpage, and post an announcement, and we had The Seduction of the Desert Prince, by the Krell: Killashandra (as she was then still known), Rachael Sabotini... and Ellen R.

It just looked so... dull and prosaic and angular and sharp-edged! No whimsy! And thus I became elynross, confounding people as to what to call me, and discombobulating their instinctive capitalization ever since.

The End.

So, yeah, I only have a (cleverly disguised) pseud for purely aesthetic reasons. *g* But it does mean that I'm the only thing that comes up under a vanity search...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

And thus I became elynross, confounding people as to what to call me, and discombobulating their instinctive capitalization ever since.

You are fantastic. In case no one has told you that recently.

I like your username. It seems so simple -- ONE-two-three little syllables making up two names -- but the seeming Welsh/old English influence of the "y," the touch of Tolkein (I've never read LoTR but the connection's there in my brain nonetheless), adds a bit of whimsy (to borrow your term) without seeming pretentious. Balanced by the "ross," I suspect.

But it does mean that I'm the only thing that comes up during a vanity search.

There is something to be said for having a unique handle when it comes to searching for oneself online. Which I'm sure we're all guilty of.

Wait. I'm supposed to be trying for inflectionless? That explains so much.

You and daasgrrl get brownie points for your clever and effective use of sarcasm in your comments, which is of course possible to do properly in cyberspace, especially when you get to know someone. I meant that it's often difficult to pull off irony when you're among virtual (ha ha) strangers, particularly in larger communities where members aren't always able or willing to invest time in differentiating other members' styles, because people are dumb don't always pick it up or get it across. And then you start getting emoticons to compensate for deficient writing skills (not to say that using emoticons means you're stupid and a bad writer) or to ensure that the intended audience correctly interprets your tone.

And then there are the non-native English speakers to take into account. With my dear kabale and lysa1, for instance, I had to "feel out" our communications in the beginning to see how tone would translate, but it turns out they both relish dry humor and it's been just dandy.

[alisel-kat.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday! I hope you had a great day.

Sorry I'm a bit late. I was out of town for a few days, visiting my Mum. Which for various reasons always leaves me feeling like my body got dragged in by the cat, with my disembodied mind left to find its own way home through a maze of rather sinister-looking underground tunnels.

The story of my username? Well, you already know that "kat" is part of my real name, and the way things are going, it will probably not surprise you to learn that I added that because the plain old "Alisel" I always use for forums had already been taken. Not in 2001 though, but as late as 2004. If only I had needed an LJ account a little sooner! True to form, this other Alisel no longer posts, but since her total post count of one still beats mine, I'm finding it difficult to work up a suitable amount of righteous anger over her existence.

"Alisel" is a combination of the names Alasen and Merisel, both characters from the fantasy series "Dragon Prince" by Melanie Rawn. I reread those books over and over as a teenager and started thinking a lot of fanfic in that universe (I didn't, at that point in time, have the privacy for writing), which is why I came up with a number of names suitable for that setting, including this one. Many of these new characters later got transferred to a piece of original fiction in which Alisel was supposed to be the main character.

However, between the first outline and beginning the actual writing, I joined the Melanie Rawn forum. As Alisel, because that was a name I associated with that fandom. I should have known it would be a mistake, but it was my first experience with an online community, so I really had no idea how much I would begin to identify with that name. Far too much for me to write the character of Alisel as she should have been, because I was beginning to think of that name as referring to me. Even though the character was not at all like me to begin with, and I didn't even like her all that much, she became a Mary Sue waiting to happen. In the end I had to completely remove her from the story and start over from scratch. Because of that I sometimes regret choosing that username even though I like it, but I'm sticking with it everywhere I can, since the reason I have a problem with using it is because I do identify with it.

I'm just rambling on, aren't I? Anyway, the history of the name "Alisel" seems more or less to be my personal story of books I've read and stories I've never written, which I suppose is quite fitting and says a lot about the ways I choose to spend my time.

[crazypalefreak.livejournal.com]

Oh Happy Belated Birthday to you! You have the same birthday as my mother by the way.

so crazypalefreak...

I originally wanted a Hotmail account with just 'palefreak', but that was taken, so I just added the 'crazy' and ta da! my username. This was about 6 years ago. And I've wanted it on pretty much everything since. I love it, it really does kinda sum up me. I like using the word 'freak' because if I'm calling myself a freak in the first place, it means I can own it. It's no longer an insult. If you look in my userinfo, it has the full definition of the word and it's just fantastic.

So, yeah.

But my mother hates it. I've spoken to her a couple of times about getting it as a tattoo, but she was horrified.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Happy belated birthday, crazypalefreak's mom.

Heh. My parents don't know I have a blog nor do they know my username, but methinks they would react with the same measure of bemusement & amusement they show to my interest in fanfic and fandom studies.

So your mom would be horrified at you having Crazypalefreak in the tattoo but not at you getting a tattoo in the first place?

Thanks for commenting -- I realized shortly after posting this that you and a few others have username explanations in your LJ profiles, but it's great that you joined in and shared some extra info.

Enjoy your remaining time in Tokyo!

[magdalenrose.livejournal.com]

I join with my wayward flatmate in wishing you belated birthday greetings.

As I am too cheap to pay the fee, I have registered two separate LJ names, neither of which I use with much regularity. I joined LJ despite already pouring too much of my time into my blogspot blog because all the cool kids were getting LJs and I didn't want to have to comment anonymously. So I admit I didn't put too much thought into my names.

My first one, maddy_harrigan, is the name of a character in a novel catilinarian I wrote with catilinarian, which was our first experience with what became our own little two-person, very disturbing real life fandom. Maddy is a neurotic mess of an MI6 agent who has been known to keep an alligator in her bathtub when it gets accidentally delivered to her home by a very confused Russian black marketeer.

Magdalenrose is a combination of a bunch of things - Magdalen is the college at Oxford where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein hung out (also the college at Cambridge where Lewis hung out after he stopped hanging out at Oxford) - it's also related to Magdalene, as in Mary Magdalene, and to Madeleine, as in Maddy Harrigan and Maddy Prior (the lead singer of Steeleye Span). Rose is similarly several things - there's the English rose, of course, and the symbol of many socialist movements (bread and roses), and a nostalgic glance back at my high school, where every important event involved carrying roses. So basically it's a mishmash with no particular meaning, much like my life.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Should I be using this u/n instead of maddy_harrigan?

Neat; I didn't know there's also a Magdalen College at Cambridge. What I've seen of Madgalen at Oxford is very pretty. R. tells me if I were to attend the university I'd be most suited for that college. Do you have any recommendations for Maddy Prior/Steeleye Span songs for someone unfamiliar with their music? You've talked about them often enough and with so much admiration that my interest is piqued.

"Rose" seems an appropriate choice with all those connotations.

So basically it's a mishmash with no particular meaning, much like my life.

And much like your assessment of your life, it's not as much of a meaningless mishmash as you think.

[theninth.livejournal.com]

No post is too old for a comment, aye? Fair enough.

theninth is actually my second official journal name. I started out under dataangel and eventually decided I needed a change. I could've just changed my UN, but I wanted a clean, fresh journal.

DataAngel comes from a cyberpunk-ish game, if I remember right. It's anyone who only exists online. They've given up their physical bodies to basically wire themselves in. I'm an introvert, a reader, a writer, not particularly athletic (lack of interest, mostly) and I like being alone most of the time, and most of my time was spent online.

When I was a kid, people called me "Technobrat" because I had this weird ability with electronics. DataAngel was more-or-less the "grown up" version of that.

People assume that "The Ninth" has something to do with Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor, since he was the canon 9th incarnation. That's just coincidence. I've had a fixation with the number nine since I was nine. It started out with three (Blame "Schoolhouse Rock" and "3 is the magic number"). But then around nine, learning the multiplication tables, it dawned on me that if three was the magic number, nine was even MORE perfect because it was three sets of three.

I have a tattoo of a nine-pointed-star. One of my ears was pierced nine times.

So I'm The Ninth. Nothing mystical or special about it. Just a weird fetish for the number.

...and this is my Byron icon. Jonny Lee Miller, as Byron from a BBC production.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

No post is too old! It just might take me till my next birthday to reply. *facepalm* Though I did read it straightaway, and smiled at the icon. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of that BBC miniseries. Does JLM look as much like brunet!James Marsters in the show as he does in photos from it?

I was one of the people who thought theninth had to do with Dr. Who, so this was an illuminating explanation. Three cheers for math geekery!

The thing about DataAngel is also cool. I'd probably have thought that one had to do with Data from Star Trek, so again, neat story behind it.

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

Wandered over here after your birthday post today - it's fascinating reading!

The 2808 is my birthday (UK-style), added because someone had already registered 'Jadesfire'. The Jades Fire is a ship from the extended Star Wars universe, belonging to Mara Jade, who is all kinds of awesome. The Timothy Zahn novels (where she first appears) are still the best, IMO. I wanted a name that wasn't fandom specific (I was writing in X-men at the time) and just liked the sound. I sometimes go by Starryice, which is another Star Wars ship. They're very useful.

It's also had the added bonus of being easily shortened to 'Jades' (although perspi was the first to actually do that), which is still a proper word, which I like :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat. I didn't know about the hidden birthday code until your post a few days ago, and I didn't know that the main part is after a ship from the SW novels.

Also -- you wrote in X-Men? Did I know this? Movie or comic-verse? What pair(s)? I only know the movies, but I learned some things about the comics back when I was devouring fic (~2003/2004). Wolverine/Rogue was my favorite, even if there were only about three plots.

user name

[pun.livejournal.com]

I first got into fandom on the TWoP Smallville message boards where people had all sorts of fun user names like Lexual Healing and Anathema. I was stumped for an equally good play on words, and so I called myself Pun, as in, "insert pun here," but decided to triple it so that it was PunPunPun, like "Fun, fun, fun till her daddy takes the t-bird away." However, I tired of the triplet and just went with one Pun when I registered for LJ since that's what everyone was calling me by then anyway.

At first, when I began meeting online friends in person, I was horribly embarrassed to have to introduce myself as "Pun" and wished I'd picked something more name-like. However, I've made such good friends in fandom, that I've come to just think of Pun or Punny as a perfectly legitimate nickname, and I have really great associations with it. Perhaps it's dorky or toolish of me, but I really do like being Pun.

Re: user name

[bironic.livejournal.com]

LOL, "PunPunPun." Your name is so short and simple (and delightfully so!) that sometimes I want to say it several times in a row like that to enjoy it over more syllables. [/weird] I've always wanted to ask -- were you a fairly early LJ user that you were able to snag that name?

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I don't have any interesting stories for my user name, just a basic lack of creativity. It's merely a babyish way of saying my name (with a _ in the middle *g*). When I was a baby and our neighbour's son was 3-4, he couldn't pronounce my name, so he called me Merduff. I've always called myself Mer in my limited exposure in other fandoms, so as a user name it had the advantage of not being confusing (to me). I'm hoping that one day the "duff" part of it won't be so appropriate to my golf game...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is adorable! Now I'm going to read your name with a little boy's voice. I'd wondered about the "duff" bit -- kept thinking of the beer from The Simpsons, but knew that couldn't be it.

[celebriangel.livejournal.com]

Your profile directed me here, so...

I used to be in the LotR fandom not fanfiction, but RPG stuff, and I couldn't think up a name. "Celebrian" turned up as I was flicking lazily through the books - she's the daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel, and thus my significantly younger (and slightly sillier o.O) self became celebrian_angel.

My email is that, too, so when I came to LJ I selectively pruned my original epithet because, um, I was used to my name and figured continuity was a good thing.