What's in a username?
Jul. 26th, 2006 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicHappy birthday to ME! And to those of you who have been or will be celebrating this week: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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.
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.
no subject
Date: Jul. 26th, 2006 07:29 pm (UTC)I'm swatkat [...] because I quite like it.
Good reasoning! :D
Before- and after-school cartoons hold a special place in my heart. Perhaps the same is true for everyone who has experienced them. I've never seen The SWATKats but will check out the CN website as I'm sure they have a page if they're still airing the show.
That sucks about Mr. Never-Updates reserving your name and not putting it to good use (or actually any use). Doesn't -- or perhaps "didn't" -- AOL have a policy where your screen name goes out of commission for a few months and then goes back on the market for anyone if your account is idle for a certain amount of time? Something similar would have helped you out here. Heh, if your birthday number were really lucky then this guy would have deleted his journal ages ago.
I picked 24 because it's a pretty number, because my birthday's on it [...] and because if you read it backwards it's 42, which is also a very cool number as it's the answer to everything.
Three excellent reasons! Thanks for sharing. Now I'll know for the future that you have the answer to everything. ;)
no subject
Date: Jul. 26th, 2006 07:47 pm (UTC)Before- and after-school cartoons hold a special place in my heart. Perhaps the same is true for everyone who has experienced them.
Yes, definitely. The SWATKATs, Dexter's Lab, The Centurions, another show whose name I can't remember... I loved them all to death.
Heh, if your birthday number were really lucky then this guy would have deleted his journal ages ago.
LJ folks never seem to do that. *pouts*
Now I'll know for the future that you have the answer to everything. ;)
Hee. It's a reference to Douglas Adams' Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Didn't House once mention that it's his lucky number?
no subject
Date: Jul. 26th, 2006 07:54 pm (UTC)Hee. It's a reference to Douglas Adams' Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Didn't House once mention that it's his lucky number?
'Tis indeed, and yes, I believe he did; it's probably coming up in reruns soon. I should really get around to reading that book one of these days.