Fionnula the Cooler inspired me to start this thread but not because of anything he said.
Everytime I see his screen name I'm reminded of the mythical daughter of Lir, condemned to die by her stepmother but "rescued" by being trapped in the form of a swan for 900 years. Along with her brothers. The allusion comes via an only half-remembered folksong that I don't expect many people to share (apart from maybe Fionnula?) and probably says more about the naffness of my musical education than it does about the writer with the moniker.
But still, the reference is there and I can't shake it. I have similar problems with flimsy, whimsical feminine Mimolette, who just does not sound like cheese - or a man - to me. So it got me to thinking...
Names: what possibly unintended things do they say to you? How attached are you to yours - in real life or online? Are you down with the trend for calling your children Hubris and Agrippina or will you be sticking with Jack and Emily? Or you could just tell us how you chose your screenname and why.
By the way, I was OJ before OJ Simpson's televised getaway and stuck to it doggedly despite the occasional suggestion that I may be fresh and wholesome like a glass of juice. Because nobody calls it that here really do they? And I'm either to stubborn or too strongly welded to my ego (cod-psychologists-r-us take note, I said it first) to switch to another name.
While we're at it, if you've ever had an urge to change your screen name to the force that through the green fuse drives the flower in the style of some boards we could not bother mentioning, you may as well confess it here too. But not that particular one you understand, I saw it first.
[ 20.10.2005, 08:11: Message edited by: OJ ]
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
Erm. Melissa reminds me of butterflies. Does that help? If I had children, chances are I would be trying to distance myself from them, rather than name them, but if I was somehow dragged into it then simple one syllable names would do just fine. Maybe with Welsh heritage? Any children unlucky enough to have me as a father aren't likely to move in the kind of circles where Hubris and Agrippina would be acceptable or pronouncable.
As for my screen name. I was reading a lot of William Burroughs when I registered on Seethru, back in 1992.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
[Whistle of wind - tumbleweed - dust cloud]
[/Whistle of wind - tumbleweed - dust cloud]
Mine is dull, it's just my first name and my surname initial, no thought, no great story, no nothing.
As far as children’s names go, as most posters on this forum are aware I do like the more unusual names, I've called my children Summer Rain (Girl 9) and Beckett Archer (Boy 14 months) but that doesn't mean I think that there's anything wrong with Jack or Emily it's just not my personal choice.
On other forums I frequent if I'm not Darryn.R I tend to use dibble, he's the bumbling policeman out of the Top Cat cartoons - For some reason I always liked him..
Even though I use Darryn as my username I have to say I don't like it as a name and wish I was called something else. I like the D part so maybe Devlin or Devon or something, even Darcy.
Darryn is so late 60's trying to be cooler than you are kind of name, there were like 5 in my year at school (various spellings Daren, Darren, Darrin, Darran) so it's not much of a personal identifier, if anyone shouts Darryn in public at least three or four people look around to see if the call is aimed at them.
How attached are you to your real name then OJ ?
(I hate to see a thread go unanswered)
Posted by scrawny (Member # 113) on :
My online name is the name my dad used to call me when I was little – scrawnyscroggins, to give me my full title.
Superficial to tha extreme:
I always find it unusual that certain names can have connotations of attractiveness, which becomes interesting when you have a job which involves dealing with most people via email. The Joshua that I am currently working with gets attention in my inbox a lot quicker than the Brian. I have never known anyone called Joshua or Brian before this, so it’s not based on previous experience of hotties or notties with those names. Other fit names for boys – Patrick, James, Charlie, Jack, Oliver, Joseph, Sam William. Fit names for girls: Delphine, Annie, Madeleine, Lucy, Imogen and Jessica. Please note I have deliberately left any posters out of this except me. I like my name.
I think a good rule of thumb for establishing which names are fit and which aren’t is to imagine if you could feasibly call a cat by that name without the cat becoming an immediate object of ridicule. ‘Pamela’ is a good example of how this works.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
I don't understand how that works. Is Pamela a good or bad name for a cat?
Posted by scrawny (Member # 113) on :
It's a bad name for a cat. So is Richard.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
okay, so Mr. Whiskers would be a good name for a human?
Posted by Roy (Member # 705) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr. Benway: okay, so Mr. Whiskers would be a good name for a human?
Only if they are a man
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
and any name with -y on the end is a winner.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
if I had a cat, It would call it Leonard.
Posted by ralph (Member # 773) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr. Benway: okay, so Mr. Whiskers would be a good name for a human?
Oooh. Could that be my new name?
Posted by scrawny (Member # 113) on :
So it only works one way. I don't think this can be described as a flaw in my system.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
I hate my real life name - it's kind of like a stupid comedy name that sitcom writers always give to their bland, uptight, unfunny characters. It's like it's considered to be the opening humiliation, before the plot sets about kicking them even further. Often, characters called Ian have no other reason to be gleefully turned into objects of ridicule other than the fact they're called Ian. Hi Fidelity, Men Behaving Badly and Red Dwarf all contain examples of this.
I quite like my online name - in fact, disturbingly I've been starting to think of it as my actual name. Whenever I picture getting a book published, or na script made into a film 'Thorn Davis' is the name I see on the poster, before I have to mentally readjust it to my stupid real life name.
Posted by Roy (Member # 705) on :
When I was a kid, we had two cats and we were told they were boy and girl so we named them accordingly.
A year later, we found out that the boy was in fact a girl. Poor Boris
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
quote:Originally posted by scrawny: So it only works one way. I don't think this can be described as a flaw in my system.
No, you're right. My own name would be pretty ridiculous on a cat. Oh, here's Steven the cat! haha!
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
is Iain okay though?
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
Iain is worse. Being the Scottish verison, it automatically carries connotations of dirt, ignorance and savagery.
Posted by herbs (Member # 101) on :
Is there a sub-category of the cat/human name rule? That is, names which are perfectly acceptable in our world, but are so commonplace as to be ridiculous on a cat, such as Paul, Andrew, Mark and, indeed, Steven.
Paul the cat.
Mark the dog.
Sarah the horse.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
quote:Originally posted by herbs: Mark the dog.
You'll need a permanent marker.
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
Our last cat was originally called Flynn. So named, by me, for his cool-arsed moustache. It suited him, he was a cool cat. Then I went away to university. My next visit was a couple of months later and the fuckers had renamed Flynn. Isn't that against the law or something?
Apparently, in between deciding that the fucking Fall-Guy-cool visor on my never-to-be-owned space helmet was lethal, my dad decreed that cats must have a two syllable name. It seems that standing with a saucer of milk, barking out a single syllable is officially wrong. It forces the cat caller to crowbar a second syllable from the name - "Fliiii - iiin!", that kind of thing.
So Flynn needed a longer name. And what did they decide on in my absence? Rocky? Iron Paw? Monkeeeeeey!? No, CC. They decided to call him CC. That would have been bad enough but CC actually stood for….drum roll....Cat Cousteau! He fell in the pond, you see, so Cat Fucking Cousteau!
That cat was my enemy from then on. Actually, if the truth be known, our mutual hatred wasn't really cemented until CC started pawing me, sucking the pad on his paw and acting rather strangely. When I pushed him off, I clocked the cerise lipstick aimed at me like a love gun. I spurned his advances and Cat Cousteau never forgave me.
We were sworn enemies. He's dead now.
I ask you, a gay cat called CC.
[ 20.10.2005, 10:11: Message edited by: jonesy999 ]
Posted by squeegy (Member # 136) on :
quote:Originally posted by herbs: Mark the dog.
Thats my name. Not Mark the dog of course but just Mark. I really detest having Mark as a name. Every cnut in the world with a 'sense of humour' will call you Marky Mark and wait for you to lift your head back and howl with laughter.
Mind you, squeegy isn't a whole lot better. Once I am a bit more financially stable I think I will pay Darryn to have it changed. It'd be a bit cheeky to ask now. I own a fair bit in TMO back-taxes. I've never been very good at coming up with names. When it comes time to change it I'll get Jonesay to come up with a few ideas for me. Cuz he's my bitch. Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
Sarah the Horse is a fucking great name for a horse.
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
Yeah, you could do a lot worse than 'Sarah the Horse', Squeegy
[ 20.10.2005, 10:20: Message edited by: jonesy999 ]
Posted by rooster (Member # 738) on :
I hated my real name as a child. Well, let me say I hated my nickname (I didn’t know what my real name was until I was older, and then I hated that too). I wanted to be Jennifer, and had fantasies of changing my name in high school (along with a complete image makeover: hair and eye color, new style, etc.).
Now I love both, but you won’t see me going by the full version on anything that’s not officially signed and sealed. I like that it is probably one of a kind, and I like that my nickname is at least pretty unusual (though I grimace at how quickly it is rising in the ranks of popularity).
When it came to naming my daughter, ordinary names equated in my mind with ordinary people, so there was no way she was going to be an “Emma” or a “Meghan” (two very popular names right now) and certainly not a “Jennifer”. Luckily my husband agreed and we limited our choices to below the top 250 US names of the previous years. I think it worked out.
As for my screen name, I’m not too keen on it (especially with the new cock tag), but froopy helped to choose it, and we both had our reasons (both probably readily apparent if you know either of us in real life).
Edit for the whole conjuring bit: My real names only conjure other people who are named that (namely a no-talent actress, some Asian model and a Yu-Gi-Oh character). My screen name conjures, well...you know.
As for others here, I always read the posts first and associated names with posts, not the other way around, so I had preconceived notions to interfere with my preconceiving.
[ 20.10.2005, 10:26: Message edited by: rooster ]
Posted by ben (Member # 13) on :
Kovacs always mocks me for using his online name in real life more than I use his real name. Actually, I think I probably do this with Thorn and Benway too.
'Ben' tends to be used in tv drama as a shorthand for domesticity - either stable or under imminent threat. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with this but there are way worse names.
Look at Alan - that practically screams Anal. No 'Alans' here, I hope. Posted by scrawny (Member # 113) on :
ALAN! I knew there was a better example. Alan the cat.
Posted by Boy Racer (Member # 498) on :
Scroggins theory is a good un, if only because my mother has given two cats names (Rory and Finbar) that I am ecstatic I managed to dodge. I like my name.
Have to disagree on the Alan front though, reckon that goes round the other side to become a brilliant name for a cat. I think Dave also has this quality.
[ 20.10.2005, 10:42: Message edited by: Boy Racer ]
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
My name is Anthony.
The only aspect of the name I dislike is the way that Americans and Scotchlanders always pronounce the silent h.
Posted by squeegy (Member # 136) on :
Goldfish are pretty versatile in the name department aren't they? Pick any name, add 'the goldfish' and there you go. Nigel the goldfish. Simone the goldfish. Ezekial the goldfish.
This is mostly because goldfish are crap and nobody cares.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
I think one of the worst names you could have for a chick is "Gretchen".
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
It sounds too much like 'Wretched'.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr. Benway: I think one of the worst names you could have for a chick is "Gretchen".
And Google's image search backs that up - What's the sexiest name ?
[ 20.10.2005, 10:47: Message edited by: Darryn.R ]
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: What's the sexiest name ?
Melissa
Posted by Niffer (Member # 266) on :
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: What's the sexiest name ?
Gods Plumber.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
boffins worked it out earlier this year. It was in the Metro, but I can't remember what it was. Might have been 'Ian'.
Posted by ben (Member # 13) on :
Yes - 'Gretchen' says to me: "Highly-strung, high-maintenance trust-issues-tastic pain in the arse who doesn't even have the decency to be good-looking after all the grief she causes - whether as an on-off girlfriend or as an total fucker of an office manager".
Also: 'Alan' will be indelibly associated with teh Alan Delve - erstwhile alter-ego of DanceMargarita.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: Melissa
THEURIAU ?
Posted by OJ (Member # 752) on :
I'm very attached to my real name, to answer Darryn's far earlier question. It's unusual - especially the surname which is unusual to the point of rare, so I've always been quite possessive of my name.
To the point, in fact, that I was quite surprised when someone I know changed her surname upon marriage. I'm not passionately against it - though there's a whole obvious feminist subject there - but it did send a blast of icy air to the ego. For a moment I had to check that no one was going to make me change my name, because it's mine, you know! Fortunately that's a bridge I'm unlikely to cross. But that didn't stop me from playing devil's advocate and trying to persuade my sister to give her unborn child her (our) surname and not her boyfriend's.
Having an unusual name does give you a feeling of uniqueness, which is augmented if people find it difficult to pronounce. I was about 10 when I figured out that not everyone's name began with a baffled pause and a sharp intake of breath. I was about 28 when I realised that all the Sarahs, Davids and Claires I know and love have to share their names with other people.
My cat, by the way, is called Teazle. I'm not sure if this bears out the theory or not. She's named after the plant Teasel - the variant spelling was an accident.
On the subject of ridiculous names, I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with Alan, Ian or Iain. Ioan (the Welsh variant of John, the latter two are also variants of John) is *slightly* better as it produces the extra baffled look and sharp intake of breath before being said by anyone not Welsh.
I seem to have professed a love of confusing people here. Let me tell you, the shine eventually wears off being described as "Dear Mr [rampant mis-spelling] by letter, "Er, um, er" on the telephone and "Oh Gosh I thought you were going to be ethnic" by one Oxford Don.
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
We've had enough guess my name posts over the last couple of weeks. Out with it, OJ.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
Nobody can pronounce my surname, although my Dad reported that in New Zealand they can just about get it right, because there are a few of us over there.
I like having a clan and tartan. Makes me feel special.
[ 20.10.2005, 11:02: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
You'd be amazed how many people struggle with 'Jones'.
Posted by ben (Member # 13) on :
quote:Originally posted by OJ: On the subject of ridiculous names, I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with Alan, Ian or Iain. Ioan (the Welsh variant of John, the latter two are also variants of John) is *slightly* better as it produces the extra baffled look and sharp intake of breath before being said by anyone not Welsh.
In Bristol I am Alan / In Croydon I am Ian Bexley I am Iain / In Harrow I am Ioaaoaoaon Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
OK, 'amazed' is proably a bit strong.
Posted by OJ (Member # 752) on :
quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: We've had enough guess my name posts over the last couple of weeks. Out with it, OJ.
That wasn't meant to be a "guess my name" post Jonesy. It's not as if I'm famous or anything, so it wouldn't be fun.
I absolutely don't post my real name online unless in a professional capacity, so I really wouldn't want to play that game.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
write it backwards then - problem solved!
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
So all that stuff was a giant tease? I feel used.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
By a quirk of real life fate, I discovered OJ's real name when a colleague walked behind me as I was looking at her picture on her moblog. "I know her!" exclaims workmate, "that's XXXXXX" Then i had to invent a story about how come I was looking at pictures of her friend on the internet, which was no fun.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
jonesy, does your offer still stand?
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
I can't believe that two posters know the secret of OJ's enigmatic, heart-stopping, horn-inducing, Red Sea-parting ultra-name and I don't.
[ 20.10.2005, 11:15: Message edited by: jonesy999 ]
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr. Benway: jonesy, does your offer still stand?
Offer of a pint?
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
ye
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
That was yesterday. What the fuck do you think we're dealing with here, tiger tokens?
Posted by OJ (Member # 752) on :
LOL. Don't be so ridiculous - I said my name was quite unusual and difficult to pronounce. Like Ermintrude Higginbottom, for example. Call me Ermintrude....
Anyway, names was the subject. As you were.
eta: Ben, is that a rugby song?
[ 20.10.2005, 11:21: Message edited by: OJ ]
Posted by doc d (Member # 781) on :
i really like my name. i've grown to like it.as a child i used to hate it. i used to hate the fact that nobody could spell it right. that the film came out a year after my birth. that because of that i've been called omen since i can remember by people of limited wit. that coupled with a tricky surname meant that i constantly have to correct people.
but now i like it. unfortunately, i'm starting to feel like michael bolton from officespace. just last week a telesales guy rang up, and asked mid patter "who gave you your name?" "my dad" "oh. he doesn't like reggae does he?" "no" "because bob marley's son..." "i was born before him"
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
quote:Originally posted by OJ: Ben, is that a rugby song?
Excellent!
ETA: OJ, Ben's song is a reworking of the theme to classic 70s children's TV show Story Book International, which was more famous for its theme than its content.
quote:TV Cream WELL-MEANING EURO co-production featured various forgettable dramatised fairytales, but, as ever, it was the title sequence we all remembered - Camp Robin Hood cartoon minstrel with lute shambled about boasting of his international narrative prowess : "Oi am the Storoytollor/And moi storois must be told..." He had a different alias for each country's production, apparently - in England he was, disappointingly, "John". ISLA BLAIR did the narration stuff.
[ 20.10.2005, 11:27: Message edited by: jonesy999 ]
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: That was yesterday. What the fuck do you think we're dealing with here, tiger tokens?
I haven't got a fucking clue.
Posted by not... (Member # 25) on :
Jonesesye is on the cusp of 4k posts everyone. Can we all have a bit of hush while we wait for him to straddle this momentous occasion with some sort of fantastical magical ubertextual piece of Jonesy Gold™
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
Imagine his suprise if set his post count back to zero..
Posted by H1ppychick (Member # 529) on :
I have the crappest of crap names. In a crap names contest I win - there's no point in anyone else even taking part .
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: I have the crappest of crap names. In a crap names contest I win - there's no point in anyone else even taking part .
Alright, Sonia?
Posted by H1ppychick (Member # 529) on :
worse than that.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
martha?
Posted by H1ppychick (Member # 529) on :
my name is the antithesis of me.
Posted by not... (Member # 25) on :
bob?
Posted by not... (Member # 25) on :
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: Imagine his suprise if set his post count back to zero..
*jedi* You should use your godly powers for more evil-doing.
Posted by H1ppychick (Member # 529) on :
Now you see, I didn't want to get into faux-OJ-lady-of-mystery territory. But if I tell you, I will have to kill you, since
a) any mystique or intrigue I might currently have will be lost for ever and
b) you will all be able to rip the piss until the day I die.
Some people I think already know it but they should be warned - I know people who can do bad things to them.
Posted by ralph (Member # 773) on :
quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: my name is the antithesis of me.
Is it Chuck? I'm not even in the ballpark, am I?
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: any mystique or intrigue I might currently have will be lost for ever and you will all be able to rip the piss until the day I die.
Margaret?
Posted by ralph (Member # 773) on :
quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: my name is the antithesis of me.
Is it ConservativeDude?
Posted by saltrock (Member # 622) on :
I had to start using the second part of my name because in one large office I worked in there were FIVE! Sarah's. So I used my proper given name of Sarah-Jane there and it just stuck. Tis a bit long though.
The good people of TMO named my cat for me - I can't remember exactly whos suggestion it was, but the cat ended up being called Dave. Which I love, but my daughter hates, so she calls it Pebbles. No wonder the poor bugger is confused!
I like to say things like, "Dave came home last night with a bleeding ear, limping and a dead bird in his mouth" and wait for the penny to drop with the other person that this is actually a cat we are talking about. Simple things and all that.
ETA: Hips, is it Ethel? Or Myrtle maybe?
[ 20.10.2005, 12:18: Message edited by: saltrock ]
Posted by Kira (Member # 826) on :
/me
will catch up later with Hippy to compare notes on bad names; I reckon we could have a proper face off and I would win the contest...
Posted by New Way Of Decay (Member # 106) on :
quote:Originally posted by saltrock: ETA: Hips, is it Ethel? Or Myrtle maybe?
Ironically, you once dubbed the very same name 'the crappest name ever'
I wish you'd had called your cat War Bastard. That was the best name for a cat ever.
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
What's left to say after 4000 posts? I'm spent. 4000 will sit there like a brand, a black scarlet number scorched into the 'lectric flesh of my online persona. A leper bell for the real world, those four digits chiming their warning to the offline folk, "Stay away. Internet addict!"
It's not a pretty sight.
The leper image feels particularly appropriate because the pressure of fucking 4K is such; the poster's droop so acute that it feels like my cyber mojo is about to drop off altogether.
Will I ever get it back? I'd opt for therapy, hypnosis perhaps. Some online regression technique taking me back, back, back through those 4000 posts. Through the gaymo, through the meatspace, through the desperate need to be recognised, all the way back to the beginning. It would break the nostalgia regulations of course, trigger the Louche alarms, cause a rumpus, but it would all be in a good cause. At least I'd see it that way.
All the way back, all the way back to the beginning. If Darryn did wind me down, set me to zero, is that what would happen? Would I experience the journey as I went, all ticking clocks and clichés, Dickensian ghosts and wailing - vanishing post counts, words being siphoned from my persona like fuel, explosions of recognition, the playground - hideous phoo faces swirling around my head: "Jonesy fucks spiders! Jonesy fucks spiders." "That's the zenith of Mongoloid reasoning...the z-z-z-enith of Mongoloid reasoning." "You could have been a good poster…what happened?" "Fucks spiders" "Mongoloid!" WWhat happened…happened…happened?"
Sexual fantasies circling above me - bursting from the skirts of Disco, Tommy's cannon primed to shoot me in the back, Benway breaking me over the ironing board.
The fights, the squabbles, the shrieking voices, an army of trolls, taunting, taunting, always taunting.
Old faces sucking me in, a vanilla tornado carrying me back, back, back, the memories, the mammories, the family; the wasted hours demanding their money back, bellowing in the eye of the storm, "Why? Why? WHY?"
A hellish journey back to the beginning. Life. Missing memories and stories torn to shreds of pretentious debris and scattered across the web. Nothing left. No memories. Naked and vanilla and alone. The start of Life. Just a flicker…four posts only…the bold opening steps of a heartbeat. I don't know where I am. I don't know who I am.
That opening pulse slipping from the counter too, like the reverse click of an alarm clock stealing the new day and bringing eternal sleep. The beginning, the first breath. "Astonished Rolf" no less - a nascent Jonesy emerging from a gaping, glistening vagina.
An uneventful birth, a lonely child, ignored, crying for attention. Alone.
Trapped in the body of the babe, clawing at the birth sack like Abby fitting a plastic sheet to a window.
Deep breath. Flat-line.
'X'
[ 20.10.2005, 13:10: Message edited by: jonesy999 ]
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
And with that desperate effort, Jonesy joins an illustrious company of members whose 4000th post was utter shit.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
that was really, really good.
[ 20.10.2005, 13:08: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
Posted by Kira (Member # 826) on :
disagree...I really liked it.
particularly this bit
quote: All the way back, all the way back to the beginning. If Darryn did wind me down, set me to zero, is that what would happen? Would I experience the journey as I went, all ticking clocks and clichés,
Posted by OJ (Member # 752) on :
It was great. Almost a shame to top by plopping a little platitude on the thread after it. But I have anyway.
All your falling backwards through history made me think that a) you should write for Doctor Who and b) of Emily Dickinson. I tell you, my memes are all in a muddle.
ps. H1ppychick - I'm being about as internationally mysterious as an Eccles Cake. ie. only mysterious if you've never seen raisins before.
Posted by Samuelnorton (Member # 48) on :
I like my name, in spite of the fact that at school others found that it conveniently rhymed with a number of other words. Only my mother uses the version that can be found on my birth certificate, usually when discussing something serious.
I chose Samuelnorton because I got bored of using my real name (Rick J) and because I liked the idea of being associated with a particularly odious fictional prison governor.
I would never give my children names that would fit them into the Islington or Notting Hill set; they'd be unique but not to the point of silliness. Ludwig or Lukas/Lucas for a boy, Yseult/Iseult or Inés for a girl.
Nightowl has already ruled out Siegfried, which makes me Posted by ralph (Member # 773) on :
quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: Trapped in the body of the babe, clawing at the birth sack like Abby fitting a plastic sheet to a window.
Nice tie-in. Well done. Would you be willing to write my 4000th? Sometime in December I would guess. 20 words or less would suffice.
[ 20.10.2005, 13:22: Message edited by: ralph ]
Posted by Poshlust (Member # 850) on :
I picked my screen name because Poshlust is a great 'phrase'. I don't really like Nabokov too much, small doses and all that.
Getting back to OJ's inspiration for this thread... is Fionnula really a guy here?
When it comes to kids names I like the ordinary, in fact where I live the ordinary has become quite extraordinary. I heard a mother yell at her daughters "Faberge & Medici" the other day.
Posted by kovacs (Member # 28) on :
quote:Originally posted by Poshlust: is Fionnula really a guy here?
A gay. In their underground slang "palare", they sometimes call each other female names.
Ben has got the wrong idea in his post on page 1: I actually like being called kovacs, Ko, Kov, Mr K, Vacs etc in person. I think it is funny and appropriate.
Posted by OJ (Member # 752) on :
quote:Originally posted by kovacs:
quote:Originally posted by Poshlust: is Fionnula really a guy here?
A gay. In their underground slang "palare", they sometimes call each other female names.
A pedantic point this Kovacs, but I've always thought that was "polari."
quote: A form of slang incorporating Italianate words, rhyming slang, cant terms, and other elements of vocabulary, which originated in England in the 18th and 19th cents. as a kind of secret language within various groups, including sailors, vagrants, circus people, entertainers, etc. Also occas. more generally (slang): talk, patter. In the mid 20th cent. a form of the language was taken up by some homosexuals, esp. in London. From the OED online
Mind you, it's pretty stupid to quibble the spelling of a word that refers to slang, because by its very definition its an oral tradition and is probably spelled many ways. So... anyway.
You surprise me with that interpretation actually, because I've always associated polari with far older men, a subculture which was far more in use in a more closeted/criminalised era. And I thought Fionnula was a young man.
Perhaps Fionnula should explain his own name if he likes. It certainly rhymes nicely.
Kovacs, which Kovacs did you name yourself after (I don't think it's your real surname though I can't remember what that is)? There's an illustrator and even a NZ furniture company apparently.
Posted by Poshlust (Member # 850) on :
quote:Originally posted by kovacs:
quote:Originally posted by Poshlust: is Fionnula really a guy here?
A gay. In their underground slang "palare", they sometimes call each other female names.
I got that impression from some other post but, being new, I thought it might just be a tad peculiar to suggest it.
Posted by kovacs (Member # 28) on :
"Polari" is another spelling I've seen, but the Morrissey song spells it "Picadilly Palare" so that's the one I came across first.
I was being a bit facetious really, but I can't help thinking Fionnula's choice of female name has something to do with him being the type of young fella who has to hide his eyeliner from his mum. Of course, that's different from being gay... but he is also gay, and a fey kind of gay.
Fionnula the Cooler is, anyway, a key character name from the novel The Sopranos, and it could be suggested that the character's Scottishness has as much to do with Fionnula the TMO Poster's choice of name as does her being a schoolgirl.
My "codename" kovacs is from the stinking, brutal, bigoted, possibly homosexual vigilante in "graphic novel" Watchmen. He has a very black and white view of things, which I found appealing when I first read this book and I must admit, still do now.
quote:RORSCHACH (1940-1985): Walter Joseph Kovacs. His mother was a prostitute, and his father is unknown. He was taken from his mother in 1951 after viciously attacking two bullies, and stayed in a home until 1956, when he became a garment worker. In 1964, after reading about the death of Kitty Genovese, he took up the identity of Rorschach, later partnering with Nite Owl II in 1965. He was at the meeting of the Crimebusters in 1966. In 1975, he experienced a change of philosophy after investigating the Roche kidnapping. In 1977, he was the only non-government sponsored vigilante not to retire after the Keene Act. In 1985, he worked to investigate the events following the Blake murder, and was framed by Veidt for murdering Moloch and arrested, being broken out of prison by Nite Owl and Silk Spectre. Eventually, with Nite Owl, he worked out the truth and confronting Veidt. He was killed by Dr. Manhattan to prevent his spreading the truth about the "alien invasion."
Posted by Fionnula the Cooler (Member # 453) on :
I just spent a whole fucking hour trying to write about the character Fionnula (the Cooler) but everything I wrote was shit so I deleted it all. I wish posts would just fall out of my fingers like they seem to do for kovacs. Every single fucking word for me is like trying to pick up a peanut using two footballs. I - . It's - . The - . Perhaps - .
gapes for words
gives up
goes to bed Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
Posted by not... (Member # 25) on :
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
LOL. Thank you N
Posted by H1ppychick (Member # 529) on :
Ever since kovacs wrote 'palare' I've had the song 'volare' running through my head :glum:. especially the 'whoa-oh-oh-oh' bit :doubleglum:.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
Funny - I have MORRISSEY's Picadilly Palare running through mine
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: especially the 'whoa-oh-oh-oh' bit :doubleglum:.
Thanks for that! You've just put 'Montego Bay', by Amazulu in my head. Fucking Amazulu! What is this? 1986? This must be how the inside of kovacs's head feels all the time.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
Great, now it's switched to 'Too good to be forgotten'. Like all my childhood memories it's causing a nasty, nauseating, itchy tickle in each of my temples as I remember dancing to this in my sister's bedroom.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
Here's a handy Polari word list:
ajax nearby (from adjacent?) basket the bulge of male genitals through clothes batts shoes bijou small bod body bold daring bona good butch masculine; masculine lesbian camp effeminate (origin: KAMP = Known As Male Prostitute) capello hat carts/cartso penis carsey toilet, also spelt khazi chicken young boy charper search charpering omi policeman cod naff, vile cottage public loo (particularly with reference to cottaging) cottaging having or looking for sex in a cottage crimper hairdresser dish an attractive male; buttocks dizzy scatterbrained dolly pretty, nice, pleasant drag clothes, esp. women's clothes ecaf face (backslang) eek face (abbreviation of ecaf) ends hair esong nose fantabulosa wonderful feele child fruit queen gelt money glossies magazines handbag money hoofer dancer jarry food, also mangarie kaffies trousers khazi toilet, also spelt carsey lallies legs latty room, house or flat lills hands lilly police (Lilly Law) luppers fingers mangarie food, also jarry measures money meese plain, ugly (from Yiddish) meshigener nutty, crazy, mental metzas money mince walk (affectedly) naff bad, drab (from Not Available For Fucking) nanti not, no national handbag dole nishta nothing, no oglefakes glasses ogles eyes omi man omi-polone effeminate man, or homosexual onk nose orbs eyes palare pipe telephone palliass back (as in cpart of body) park give plate feet; to fellate polari chat, talk polone woman pots teeth riah/riha hair riah shusher hairdresser scarper to run off (from Italian scappare, to escape) scotch leg sharpy policeman shush steal (from client) shush bag holdall shyker/shyckle wig slap makeup strillers piano thews = thighs trade sex troll to walk about (esp. looking for trade) vada/varda see willets breasts
Amazing how many of those are now commonplace in everyday conversation.
Posted by Dr. Benway (Member # 20) on :
I'm being plagued by a b3ta tune called "I'm Stuart Hall", which hilariously juxtaposes his reputation as a family fun kind of guy with his own fictional rampant sexuality. It's annoying, but addictive, and there will always be a place in my mind where it is playing.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Amazulu!
Really, I'm a Glaswegian !
(Name the quote Thorn)
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
You know what - I only ever heard that joke in the playground. So I guess it was from something that was big with 8 year olds in the mid eighties, like Kenny Everett, The Young Ones, or Lenny Henry.
Posted by Waynster (Member # 56) on :
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R:
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Amazulu!
Really, I'm a Glaswegian !
(Name the quote Thorn)
The Young Ones - you beat me to it - I was looking for an image of SPG to accompany it, but you beat me. Bastard.
Posted by OJ (Member # 752) on :
Yes I realised how many of those words I knew when there was that documentary about Round the Horne recently.
Black Mask, thank you for revealing your sources. I'd not heard of the Black Mask group, but will look them up. It reminds me of the great Class War a decade of type compendium book I came across in Oxfam recently. Fantastic, but I can't help thinking they would've hated me. What am I talking about? They did.
And Kovacs, I feel somewhat silly for not knowing Fionnula the Cooler was a Sopranos character. I wish Fionnula would not feel so selfconscious about writing though. Just look at the self-indulgent drivel some of us pump out. I, for example, seem to be doing a Gwyneth Paltrow and tearfully thanking everyone for taking part in this thread.
Cheers for the 80s soundtrack guys. I'm still on AHA: The Sun Always Shines on TV, which I had to deploy several times this morning just to get out of the door.
Posted by Kira (Member # 826) on :
I remember SPG, He was a hamster or something right?
Did SPG stand for something?
Young Ones woz aces
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
Special Patrol Group..
"Sorry sir, was that your hedgehog?"
[ 21.10.2005, 06:30: Message edited by: Darryn.R ]
Posted by Kira (Member # 826) on :
Thank you Darryn! x
Posted by Roy (Member # 705) on :
Kovacs is lying, I'm afraid. He confided in me that he actually named himself after Grzegorz Kovacs , the notorious Polish concentration camp guard who would herd frightened Jews into internet chat rooms and mock them to death.
He made up the Watchmen connection when the world went all politically correct.
Posted by Doctor Agamemnon When (Member # 189) on :
Hey, look! Remember me. I'm sorry. I've been spending too much time on b3ta recently.
Dr. When is an easy one. Back in the early pre-broadbandica period, about 1998, I signed up for my first tentative steps into chatrooms. Unfortunately, doctorwho had already been taken, so doctorwhen became my "online persona". He's grown from there to Dr. Agamemnon When, has his own steampunk website, and is my avatar representative in most if not all of my online dealings.
Me and Nursewhen once got drunk and decided if we had kids (unlikely, the little shits) what would we call them. It ended up with 26 boys and 26 girls, for which we had to find names for every letter of the Alphabet.
We found boys easier to name - Agamemnon thru Zarathustra etc.
Posted by dance margarita (Member # 848) on :
I've been in this town so long that back in the city I been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long, long time-
Fell in love years ago with an innocent girl from the Spanish and Indian home of the Heroes and Villains.
Once at night, cotillion squared, the fight, and she was right in the rain of the bullets that eventually brought her down –
But she’s still dancing in the night unafraid of what a dude’ll do in a town full of Heroes and Villains.
Heroes and Villains: Just see what you done-done Heroes and Villains: Just see what you done-done
Stand or fall, I know there shall be peace in the valley, and it’s all an affair of my life with the Heroes and Villains.
In the cantina, Margarita keeps the spirits high. There I watched her. She spun around and wound in the warmth. Her body fanned the flame of the dance.
Dance Margarita! Don’t you know I love you! Dance (spoken) You're Under Arrest!
My children were raised, you know they suddenly rise. They started slow long ago, head to toe; healthy, wealthy and wise.
I been in this town so long, so long to the city I’m fit with the stuff to ride in the rough – and Sonny, down snuff, I’m alright by the Heroes and Villains
thats a song by brian wilson. off an album called smile. it includes the words 'cotillion' and 'dude', two of my favourites. i have been much more cheerfuller since i started posting as dancing marge.
Posted by Samuelnorton (Member # 48) on :
quote:Originally posted by Roy: Kovacs is lying, I'm afraid. He confided in me that he actually named himself after Grzegorz Kovacs , the notorious Polish concentration camp guard
Wrong info. Kovacs is a Magyar.
Posted by jonesy999 (Member # 5) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samuelnorton: Magyar.
Is this an anagram?
Posted by sabian (Member # 6) on :
quote:Originally posted by Roy: ... Grzegorz Kovacs , the notorious Polish concentration camp guard who would herd frightened Jews ....
That's just bullshit! skaski told us yesterday the Poles were instrumental in the downfall of the Nazis... Not some fucking sympathisers!!! Posted by Roy (Member # 705) on :
I know! It makes Kovacs even more evil!
Posted by Samuelnorton (Member # 48) on :
quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: Is this an anagram?
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
"