Why did you choose your username?

[canetoad]

I was online early 90s. Had an instinctive need not to reveal any personal details about myself so I chose a repugnant, Australian, gender-inspecific name.

[DonaldsRump]

1. Except for the 90s and Australia, me too n/t

[TexasTowelie]

2. My real-life friends called me Towelie after the South Park character

that always wanted to get high. The Texas part was added because another member already used the Towlie username and I wanted to provide some identification as to where I lived.

[Kaleva]

62. A far better nick then Mr. Hankey.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. To reveal my rare Ohio origin to DU.

Kidding, and already noticed that you’re in Ohio too.

[canetoad]

5. Close but...

Miles off. SE Australia.Antipodean to you.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. I'm sorry!

I must’ve confused you with someone else!

[canetoad]

8. No worries

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. Maybe a "Ms. Toad" here?

[canetoad]

10. My theory is it doesn't matter

The internet is where we can be male, female or neither. Used to be like that, when it was mostly text based. I enjoyed parsing words.

and yes!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

12. Bad memory is a slippery slope.

Last edited Sat May 2, 2020, 02:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Next thing you know, I’ll be drooling and regularly watching Fox News.

Kidding again, and thanks!

Edit: To be clear, I wasn’t inquiring about your gender. I think that I originally confused you with a poster known as “Ms. Toad” who I think referenced Ohio in the past (but could be wrong yet again).

[Wounded Bear]

31. The memory is the second thing to go...

I forgot what the first one was.

[tblue37]

55. Or a dog. No one will know. nt

[EarnestPutz]

4. Just a general self-deprecating sense of humor. Got to be able to laugh at oneself.

[Leith]

7. I chose this name on another message board

The board wouldn't accept CityKitty (a nick I used on the Undernet (Internet Relay Chat) back in the 1990s) so I had to come up with a new user name. I chose Leith because I was listening to the Proclaimers album Sunshine on Leith.

[canetoad]

11. Noticed your name

I had one set of great-grandies from Leith and wondered if you were from there.

[Leith]

53. Unfortunately, no

I am an American of Irish descent, with German, English, Welch, and French thrown in. I just really like that album.

[mucifer]

13. I nicknamed myself moose because I felt dorky and was a vegetarian (now vegan). Then in

college one day a roommate put up a sign in on the refrigerator in my apartment stating "who left the front door open".
Something came over me and I drew my cartoon moose and put a beard, horns and a pitchfork and answered "It was I, Mucifer". She actually found that funny. Mucifer was born.

[mr_lebowski]

14. I'm not Mr. Lebowski. YOU are Mr. Lebowski (nt)

[Luz]

15. Luz is from my fav movie, Giant.

[dameatball]

16. I was literally preparing meatballs for dinner at the time I joined. Never gave it much thought

prior to that. Just went with it.

[captain queeg]

17. I picked my handle on DU based on trump reminding me of the insane captain

From the Cane Mutiny, though trump is way crazier.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. My beloved cat

Though after 17 years, I'm used to answering to the name here.

[OneBro]

19. To remind myself and others that I'm only . . .

. . . ONE brother, not a spokesperson for nor an expert on ALL black people. My prior user name was not only boring, it made it too easy to identify me with a few strokes of the keyboard.

[wyldwolf]

20. I used to raise wolf hybrids.

Last edited Wed May 6, 2020, 01:28 PM - Edit history (1)

Or, rather wolf dogs. Part Timberwolf part Siberian Husky.

[nolabear]

90. I once owned a Shepherd/Malamute/wolf.

Bruno. He came with Mr. Bear. When we were “keeping company” my hubs went to Duke U. I lived about five miles from there and they were at my house frequently. Eventually I moved to another place. One day Bruno disappeared from campus. Mr. Bear nearly died, checked the pound repeatedly and looked everywhere. A couple of days later the police got a call about a big dog on a porch barking like crazy. Bruno has found my old place and wanted in, dammit!

He was a fantastic fellow. Loved us, put up with our boys in his old age and finally left to wherever good, good boys go.

[wyldwolf]

96. they're pack animals and incredibly loyal...

I'm older now with a border collie but still miss my wolves terribly.

[Croney]

21. I mashed up crone and crony.

An old woman who wants to be your friend. Sounds creepy, especially if you picture me offering you an apple.

[Freddie]

22. Also my beloved cat

Who was probably on my lap when I joined in 2012 but we lost him to FIP 3 years later. Have 2 cats now but big orange tabby Freddie was one of a kind.

[Uben]

23. After the 2000 election fiasco.....

...I chose the name of Uben Scrude. Dropped the Scrude after a year, so I'm just Uben now.

[consider_this]

92. Haha! Love it! eom

[NRaleighLiberal]

24. mine was self describing, but 3 months ago went obsolete!

should now be "HendoLiberal" !

[sinkingfeeling]

25. I think mine represents what I was thinking back in Dubya's

reign and is more true today.

[The Magistrate]

26. Bit Of a Story To It, Sir

I originally attempted to open an account as 'Court Historian', which I had used on the old 'Media Whores On-Line' site ('The site that set out to bring the media to it's knees, only to find they were already there'), where I had developed some small reputation as a forensic artiste. No confirmation ever arrived (I later found out I had mis-typed my e-mail address). So I made a second attempt.

The name I originally attempted to sign up under derived from Sima Qian, whose 'Records of the Grand Historian', written in the Han dynasty, is the first example of history written in the modern vein, employing sources in a genuine attempt to reconstruct events prior to the writer's own experience, or at least it is the earliest such to survive. I have read a good deal in Chinese history, both modern and antique, and found it useful in understanding even modern politics and governance. There is something timeless and essential in the political function of a system enduring some thousands of years without a great deal of alteration. At the time (2001), I had formed the habit of commenting on current events employing the conceit that 'an old county magistrate of the Ming would say....'. My daughter greatly enjoyed then a television show 'Sagwa the Siamese Cat' and would tease me over the 'foolish Magistrate' character in it. So when I cast about for a name to use making a second attempt to sign up here, the one I comment under now suggested itself, and that time I got the e-mail address typed in right, and so here I am....

[Coventina]

35. I love that! I hope, at least in one respect, you do NOT have something in common

with poor ole Sima Qian!!

[The Magistrate]

42. True, Ma'am --- That Did Not End Well

Imperial courts were dangerous places.

In his history he gives accounts of people who attempted, with some initial success, to convince the Qin emperor they could make him immortal. They died awfully hard, and ought by rights to be the patron saints of grifters and con-men everywhere. The nerve of the first must have been immense, but what word can suggest the audacity of the second?

[BluesRunTheGame]

27. It's the title of a song that I like...

...by Jackson C. Frank.

It’s been covered by Simon & Garfunkel and quite a few singers from the English folk scene. I was choosing a new username after DU was taken offline by hackers and I had recently seen this new cover by First Aid Kit.

The song reflected my mood after the election.

[FoxNewsSucks]

28. It's what I think.

And it gets more and more true every year.

[Generic Brad]

29. So I would not be confused with Brad Pitt

It has never happened in real life. But on line? You never know.

[Zorro]

30. Champion of the oppressed and downtrodden

Also was the name of my dog.

[Wounded Bear]

32. It's my spirit animal...

Was in a men's group back in the 90's. You know, story telling, drumming, annual campout in the woods, the whole deal. I'm a cave dweller and a hibernator. Bears are solitary animals, especially male bears. At the time I was emerging from a time of isolation and had limited mobility, metaphorically speaking. So, bear, wounded. Seemed to fit.

It's actually my second UI here, following the great crash of way back when. I ended up not getting back in under my original name, so went with this.

[Fla Dem]

33. Because I'm a life long Democrat and I live in Florida.

I was a Massachusetts Democrat but the was before DU was created.

[Danmel]

34. A combination of my children's names

[3catwoman3]

36. Mine is from the first discussion board I ever participated in...

...and we had 3 cats at the time. I’ve never liked my own first name, and the people on that initial board called me “Cat,” which I did like, as I’ve long wished I were named Cathleen or Kathleen.

Still have 3 cats, but not the same 3 from whom the name derived. I chose the name in 2004.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

37. As a kid I loved the book "The Velveteen Rabbit" (I even have one)

and I think ocelots are beautiful, so why not?

[mokawanis]

38. I chose my username because of a bear spray incident at a beautiful place

I was in the back-country in Glacier Natl. Park, at lake mokawanis, when I caught a blast of bear spray right into my face. Spent the next two hours lying on the lake shore splashing icy cold water on my face to relieve the burning sensation from the bear spray. Aside from that incident, lake mokawanis is one of the more beautiful places I've ever been.

[Tikki]

39. 18 years ago, I was posting on a generic bulletin board under POLITICS and arguing...

back and forth when a new post popped up and said the right wingers should go
to free republic and the Liberals should go to Democratic Underground.

So I came here and when the sign-in asked for a username I picked the name
of my dog, Tikki, so I wouldn't forget my username (just in case I didn't visit or post on the site that often)...ha ha ha.

Here nearly every day..
Tikki

[Kali]

40. it is my name

I do some things to maintain some privacy but I already live in the middle of nowhere with lots of sharp plants and rocks, have dogs, guns, and a general low level of fear.

[LeftInTX]

74. Do you look like Kali?

[Kali]

81. nah, but I can act like her sometimes

[LeftInTX]

83. Ha!!!!

[zanana1]

41. Mine is a childhood nickname.

None of my friends or family comes to this website, so I'm safe.

[maxrandb]

43. Maximum R&B Baby!

https://m.

[Wawannabe]

44. This explains it

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1018946049

[hunter]

45. It's my name.

I didn't think about it much.

[mvd]

46. Here's how I got mine

M = first letter of first name
V = first letter of middle name
D = first letter of last name

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

70. Oooohhhh.

The next time I need to create a new identity here I'll do that.

[hay rick]

47. Mine was a name from a dream I had about the time I signed up.

I couldn't remember if the name was rick hay or hay rick. I went with the latter.

[qwlauren35]

48. I have had this name for a long time.

My name is Lauren, and when I first got on line, I was getting lots of "LaurenXXXX" name generations, and didn't want one. At the time I was working as a reliability engineer, which is considered "Quality", so I added "Quality Woman" =QW to the front, plus my age. And it stuck. I no longer work in quality, but would never consider changing it. Nobody else is going to come up with it.

[Laffy Kat]

49. I live in a Colorado town named Lafayette and thought Kat had a nice ring.

[mshasta]

50. Went to

Mount Shasta —— long ago during war in Iraq issue and it was very helpful to clear my mind

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

51. When I first started at DU, I was hooked... so the name was appropo.

(Not so much today).

[lastlib]

52. At the time after an election, I was feeling like I was the last liberal on earth.

I'm surrounded in my life by right-wing nutjobs, religious whackos, gun-humpers and other screwballs, and was asking myself "Am I the last sane person left?"

So there ya have it!

So damn glad to have found DU!! It's the last bastion of sanity I can cling to!

[tblue37]

54. Because it's my actual name & I like the number. At the time DU had another tblue, so I added the

number to differentiate us, but unfortunately I never see her here anymore. We used to greet each other as "Cuz."

[smirkymonkey]

56. I joined during the W years and it was a joke name for George W. Bush.

I really hated him at the time. Little did I know that it would be nothing in comparison to how much I loathe and despise Trump and every member of his cabinet and family.

[Wawannabe]

59. Hehe

I’ve often wondered bout your screen name.

[ironflange]

57. I saw it in, I think, the National Lampoon eons ago

I liked the ring of it so it stuck with me.

[Captain Zero]

58. Graded standardized testing & got called in for giving too many zeros

Worked in a group setting with nice folks. One guy drew caricatures of people in the group. He was an artist and enjoyed doing that for people. Anyway during the course of grading for a literature question for middle school, my scores were differing from the expected and group scores, so I got counseled for giving too many ZEROS, where I should have been giving at least a 1 or 2. (Out of 4.)

When I came back to my pod next to David he asked what I got called up for and I said "too many zeros". He thought that was hilarious. And since he had not done my caricature yet, he got to work and the next week brought in a caricature of me in a super hero outfit complete with a Cape with a big 0 on the back of it. Comic Sans lettering. Captain Zero !!

I lost the caricature over time, wish I still had it.

The answers really did NOT deserve a 1 or 2 either !! But hey. Part time gig.
I'm a hard ass grader.

[Doc_Technical]

60. I'm a Firesign Theatre nut

Name of a minor character in a short sketch "Mark Time"

[Glorfindel]

61. I wanted a name from the Tolkien legendarium

It's an aspirational, not literal, description of who I'd like to be:

"Glorfindel was tall and straight; his hair was of shining gold, his face fair and young and fearless and full of joy; his eyes were bright and keen, and his voice like music; on his brow sat wisdom, and in his hand was strength."

[Kaleva]

63. Name of a restaurant my family went to once in awhile when young

https://www.mykaleva.com/

Last time I was there was in 2006. Place hadn't changed much from the 60's.

[CTyankee]

64. At the time I was sensitive to the fact that I was, indeed, a Southerner by birth and heritage.

But now I was proud to live in Connecticut and if that makes me a dreaded yankee well so be it and I'll be a proud CT Yankee!

[OriginalGeek]

101. lol I was born in the south

Tallahassee Florida to be a little more precise. And I have lived all over the south. When I was in 2nd grade we moved from Kentucky to Maryland and then during the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade we moved back down to Jacksonville. The first thing the neighbor kid asked me before I could be his friend was "Are you a yankee or a rebel". I didn't have a clue and told him we had moved from Maryland whereupon he declared I was a yankee. Apparently they learned about as much in Jacksonville as I did in Maryland about who was what in the civil war.

We were friends anyway though as I was about the only kid around his age. Not that it mattered since during the school year my dad moved us to Texas where I grew up through high school. His brother older had a poster in his bedroom with a drawing of a naked couple hugging. I thought that was kinda weird then.

[Niagara]

65. It's the county I live in.

Mainly Democratic since 1980 with the exception of Reagan and tRump. It's a 10 minute drive to Niagara Falls State Park and I get to visit the park frequently.


Also as it happened, I was watching the movie Niagara while registering for DU and that's how I decided.

[countingbluecars]

66. I liked the song

Counting Blue Cars by Dishwalla. Also I have had several blue cars.

[yuiyoshida]

67. Because its my Real name?

Konnichiwa.. Hajimemashite! dozo Yoroshiku!

[Solly Mack]

68. Because the name Skinner was already taken.

I offered to thumb wrestle for it but he told me to go sit in the corner.

19 years later I'm still sitting there.

This story is as true as any story I'd tell about my screen name. Or not.

Wanna thumb wrestle?

[Skittles]

69. Skittles was my 25lb bundle of solid black feline furbaby

he passed away on my fifth anniversary on DU

[sakabatou]

80. Awww

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

71. This is my third incarnation here.

Complicated story that doesn't need repeating. But "Poindexter Oglethorpe" is a name that a friend of mine made up many years ago as an alter ego. So I now use it.

And even though it seems to be a guy's name, I'm a female person.

[Wolf Frankula]

72. It was inspired by the movie 'Chicken Chronicles.'

There's a kid in the movie who uses the name Frank Dracman from Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. Mine is from the Wolfman, Frankenstein and Dracula. The alternative was Arbel Nelson, named after a much loved cat.

Wolf

[LeftInTX]

73. Because I'm left handed and live in Texas

Also I was kinda left here (Well I came down here kicking and screaming against my will...I was broke and my parents had moved here, so I came to this red place......)

[GoneOffShore]

75. I had lived in the UK in the 1970's and after Bush2 thought I'd end up leaving the US again.

And now we have - Hence GoneOffShore

[lunatica]

76. Mine is self explanatory.

[canetoad]

78. Yup. nt

[Mossfern]

77. I love moss and I love ferns

I love most primitive plants. I used to be Madam Mossfern here, but needed to change my user name because of some glitch. In reality I have more posts that show in my profile now.

[sakabatou]

79. I was, and still am, a big Rurouni Kenshin fan.

[DFW]

82. It was the closest intercontinental airport to my US residence

And it was REALLY easy to remember!

[In_The_Wind]

84. I was traveling.

[greatauntoftriplets]

85. Because I am the greataunt of triplets.

They were born about a week before that godawful 2000 election, and were babies when I joined up a few months later. Needless to say, I was pretty excited about their birth.

Today they're 19 years old and finishing up their very strange freshman year of college -- at different universities. One has finished finals (successfully); another is taking one right now; and the third has them later this month.

[VarryOn]

86. I intended to be "CarryOn", but...

I didnt realize I typed a V until I was all set. I was too lazy to delete my account and start over!

My name is Cary, thus the attempt to be CarryOn.

[LeftInTX]

88. Funny!

There's probably a CarryOn around here anyway

[ismnotwasm]

87. Because Ima old school social justice warrior and a recovering alcoholic

[SinisterPants]

89. All the cool names were taken. Sinister proclaimed...

my leftiness, at least to anyone paying attention, And Pants, hopefully, indicates that I'm not too serious about anything. (mainly, nobody had it yet)
Hence: SinisterPants

[nolabear]

91. I grew up near and in New Orleans. I did wildlife rehab and fell in love with bears.

Thus, nolabear.

[consider_this]

93. inspired by the DU UI

I started reading during W years, and finally decided to join so I could post during the Obama election season. When I noticed the username was the very first thing displayed on each post, I decided to make my name something about how I would want people to take my posts - hence, please readers, just simply 'consider_ this'.

[47of74]

94. I just wanted to do something that honored Star Trek and the number 47

Hence I gave myself a Borg designation.

[marlakay]

95. I would change it if I could

Its my name. I was more trusting back in 2004. I have thought about it but wanted people to know I have been here long time, I just don’t post that much. I am the kind of person who doesn’t like arguments so I keep quiet a lot.

[bif]

97. Way back in 2000...

When I signed up, I thought I had to type my user name and password every time I logged in. So I used the shortest name I could think of. And even though there have been opportunities to change it, I just never bothered.

[lillypaddle]

98. Years back

"My man" and I had a Koi pond, with lilly pads afloat. And then meanwhile, back at the dungeon ...

Oh dear. Now I will have to kill all of you.

[Mad_Dem_X]

99. It's a play on the name Madam X, also

I'm angry about a lot of stuff.

[OriginalGeek]

100. I'm sure there were geeks before me

but I did use to log into Q-Link on a C64 with a 300 baud modem so I figure I am pretty OG.

[JustGene]

102. Beats me

C'serve on a 486 @ 14.4
Buddy had a Psion w/ 300b
I miss the Newsgroups

[A.M. Kittenplan]

103. Infinite Jest

My name comes from the minor character Ann Kittenplan, from the novel Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I'm not a teenager in a tennis academy, it just sounds catchy to my ear. There is a chapter in the book where the principal character of the Enfield Tennis Academy, used four adjacent tennis courts to play a war game using worn out tennis balls that have lost their bounce, and are therefore just useful as projectiles. Two players are assigned to a team, one playing a head-of-state, and the other playing the supreme military commander. Ann was given the title of Air Marshal, and referred to as Air Marshal Kittenplan of the Soviet Union-Warsaw Pact team.

While in quarantine, I thought that I would try to read the book for the second time. I got to page 156. It's famous for being a 1,079 page novel. My copy is pretty worn out from the first reading, and I think that I ought to find a new copy to write notes in the margins, and to make an attempt to thread the non-linear plot together.

[catbyte]

104. It was about 1991 on Bitnet, lol. I figured I liked cats & I was on the computer, so...

it stuck & migrated it to DU in 2002. I know, so original.