What's the Etymology of your PF Name?

[Moonbear]

Yeah, two of my favorite books are Crime and Punishment and The Idiot.

Hey, as moderator I think you should PM Boulderhead and tell him to get his story out or you are making one up for him involving the moon and drunken bears . . .

BoulderHead was there too!? I'm never going to live that night down.

 

[tribdog]

has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe Boulderhead can't remember why he was named that? He's not exactly the sharpest knife in the cupboard.
In fact, has it ever occurred to anyone that perhaps Boulderhead is his given name?

 

[decibel]

Funny story. So I’m sitting on the computer and I find PF. It asks me for a username, and I have no idea what to type. By chance, my physics book happens to be right next to me. So what I do is, close my eyes, open the book, take my index finger and VOILA!..Decibel

 

[BoulderHead]

I had never seen a moon so fool before or since…

BoulderHead was there too!? I'm never going to live that night down.

It was one of those embearassing moments.

 

[Moonbear]

It was one of those embearassing moments.

Or could it have been an em-bare-assing moment?

 

[BoulderHead]

Yeah, two of my favorite books are Crime and Punishment and The Idiot.

Hey, as moderator I think you should PM Boulderhead and tell him to get his story out or you are making one up for him involving the moon and drunken bears . . .

I am quite capable of making up lies of my own, but thanks for the thought!

Actually, I have had it prepared and ready for cut and paste since yesterday. I'm in consideration mode.

 

[BoulderHead]

Or could it have been an em-bare-assing moment?

Yes, it could have been that too. Serveral humorous variations came to mind.

 

[Les Sleeth]

I'm still waiting for Les to tell me more about that bear mooning episode. That night is all such a blur now. Last thing I recall was sitting out by the campsite, and someone mentioned having a bottle of tequila. Nobody had a shot glass, so we were just swigging from the bottle...I think...it's such a haze. I just know they were all looking at me really funny the next day and laughing and not telling me what was so funny.

Okay, I didn’t want to have to reveal this but here’s the real story of how Moonbear got her name.

Moonbear was not her original name, Little White Dove was-a her name, such lovely sight to see. She was raised by a lost tribe of Seneca Indians by a river in Eastern Ohio. When she was 18 she got the hots for a young brave on the other side of the river named Runnin’ Bear. But their tribes fought with each other so their love could never be. The tribes would regularly lob dirt bombs at each others teepees, give each other the finger, pee upstream while someone from the other tribe was bathing . . . needless to point out that it was a horrible situation.

Poor Little White Dove couldn’t seem to get Running Bear to notice, so one day while he was washing his hands in the river, she turned her backside to him and lifted her buckskin skirt. Well, that got Runnin’ Bear’s attention, who dove in the water, Little White Dove did the same. And they swam out to each other through the swirling stream they came. As their hands touched and their lips met, the ragin' river pulled them down. Now they'll always be together in that happy hunting ground . . . well, not quite.

Little White Dove got caught in the current and was pulled miles down stream where some campers from Steubenville found her half drowned on the bank. They carried her to their campsite, and while they nursed her back to health asked her name and what had happened. All she could do was moan “mooning bear, mooning bear.” So the half-drowned girl became known as Mooning Bear (I’m not sure but I think some guy named Johnny Preston even wrote a song about the whole river incident).

If that were the end of the story, it would be a happy one. But unfortunately Mooning Bear got addicted to flashing her rear until she became known far and wide in Ohio country as Mooning Bare. After numerous arrests and years of therapy, she’s finally been able to control the urge (though sometimes when she’s alone in the lab, she can’t resist flashing the rats, who are quite appreciative). Someone from Ohio who got obsessed with her backside has been following her around from website to website, begging for just one more view, so she changed her name to Moonbear at PF hoping he wouldn’t realize it’s the famous Ohio flasher here in our very midst (her picture in her profile isn’t a risk since her admirer has never seen her face).

Well, that’s the story, and it’s true every word.

 

[Moonbear]

Okay, I didn’t want to have to reveal this but here’s the real story of how Moonbear got her name...

Well, that’s the story, and it’s true every word.

How did you find that out?! I thought I had put that life behind me.

Moral of the story: Never swim in the Ohio River!

 

[loseyourname]

Mine rhymes with username.

 

[Les Sleeth]

Mine rhymes with username.

That's pretty funny. I'd imagined you were making a philosophical statement about leaving one's identity/ego behind while participating here at PF.

 

[franznietzsche]

That's pretty funny. I'd imagined you were making a philosophical statement about leaving one's identity/ego behind while participating here at PF.

One might think that, the Johansson avatar just wouldn't fit then.

 

[loseyourname]

That's pretty funny. I'd imagined you were making a philosophical statement about leaving one's identity/ego behind while participating here at PF.

I figured people would think that. Part of the fun of having the name.

 

[BoulderHead]

he'da qu'i a' yanaji
(Here is the scenario)

As may have been noticed I capitalize two letters. I do this for three reasons; they are initials to my name, to honor a history behind those Deities from which my name comes and finally to pay a small but polite respect to a country which had those same initials, where I spent a portion of my life and was most likely born (long story). It is, certainly, a most unholy trinity but as such remains my own.
As to the name; I was affectionately teased by childhood friends with nicknames having to do with a not-so spectacular rock formation which, when viewed from a certain angle, was said to resemble my profile. I wanted a user name that would reflect all of this. Of course, having learned English, I felt BoulderHead had better connotation than either “aj nuj po'l” (big head) or the more used “aj tu'nich po'l” (rock head). Please resist any temptation, haha. That is the half of it.

 

[chroot]

Mine is indeed a unix command. Unix has a history of very short, almost cryptic program names, presumably to save keystrokes. Some unix program names are quite amicable, like "sed" and "awk." Others are kinda weird, like "ls" and "cp." Others are just downright awful, like "rmdir" and "chroot."

As it happens, when you use unix a lot around friends, you start trying to pronounce the unpronouncable onces, and it becomes a big joke. Eventually, one of the friends begins using "chroot" as a username precisely because no one is really sure how to pronounce it.

- Warren

 

[graphic7]

Mine is indeed a unix command. Unix has a history of very short, almost cryptic program names, presumably to save keystrokes. Some unix program names are quite amicable, like "sed" and "awk." Others are kinda weird, like "ls" and "cp." Others are just downright awful, like "rmdir" and "chroot."

As it happens, when you use unix a lot around friends, you start trying to pronounce the unpronouncable onces, and it becomes a big joke. Eventually, one of the friends begins using "chroot" as a username precisely because no one is really sure how to pronounce it.

- Warren

Well, there are exceptions to the ones that are actually `words.' When I hear someone pronounce `vi' like "veye," I run like hell. Pronouncing `sed,' as "said," and `awk' like "awk" is acceptable.

I suppose if you pronouce `chroot' syllabically, you get "sh-root," or "c-root (holding the h silent)."

It's funny when UNIX users unite.

 

[Evo]

Okay, I didn’t want to have to reveal this but here’s the real story of how Moonbear got her name.<snip>Well, that’s the story, and it’s true every word.

Les, that's hysterical! I always knew there was more to that name than she would let on.

 

[Moonbear]

Well, there are exceptions to the ones that are actually `words.' When I hear someone pronounce `vi' like "veye," I run like hell. Pronouncing `sed,' as "said," and `awk' like "awk" is acceptable.

I suppose if you pronouce `chroot' syllabically, you get "sh-root," or "c-root (holding the h silent)."

It's funny when UNIX users unite.

Funny, I just assumed you pronounced it the way it's spelled. "Ch-root "
Maybe it's good to know nothing of computer programming.

 

[graphic7]

Funny, I just assumed you pronounced it the way it's spelled. "Ch-root "
Maybe it's good to know nothing of computer programming.

Well, you might be right, but "Ch-root" is kind of broken and harsh. Regardless, it's tradition to separate the `c' and `h' and then say "root."

 

[relskid]

relskid... hmm...

rel is the last part of my last name (shidler) spelled backwards (hey, if you're lucky, i might just tell you my social security number, and my mother's maiden name too!).

"skidlebop" was the my first username ever; some word i made up back in 8th grade.

i think chose my name as that because when spelled backwards, it spells "diksler." the only thing need to keep this immature bozo going is that "diks" part.

i mean... diksler. come on.

 

[Moonbear]

relskid... hmm...

rel is the last part of my last name (shidler) spelled backwards (hey, if you're lucky, i might just tell you my social security number, and my mother's maiden name too!).

"skidlebop" was the my first username ever; some word i made up back in 8th grade.

i think chose my name as that because when spelled backwards, it spells "diksler." the only thing need to keep this immature bozo going is that "diks" part.

i mean... diksler. come on.

Aww...I like skidlebop.

 

[Les Sleeth]

he'da qu'i a' yanaji
(Here is the scenario)

As may have been noticed I capitalize two letters. I do this for three reasons; they are initials to my name, to honor a history behind those Deities from which my name comes and finally to pay a small but polite respect to a country which had those same initials, where I spent a portion of my life and was most likely born (long story). It is, certainly, a most unholy trinity but as such remains my own.
As to the name; I was affectionately teased by childhood friends with nicknames having to do with a not-so spectacular rock formation which, when viewed from a certain angle, was said to resemble my profile. I wanted a user name that would reflect all of this. Of course, having learned English, I felt BoulderHead had better connotation than either “aj nuj po'l” (big head) or the more used “aj tu'nich po'l” (rock head). Please resist any temptation, haha. That is the half of it.

Wow, interesting. But I'm not sure if you've raised more questions than you've answered! I've been racking my brain for deities with the initials B and H.

 

[Moonbear]

Wow, interesting. But I'm not sure if you've raised more questions than you've answered! I've been racking my brain for deities with the initials B and H.

That's alright, I had to go look up the country with the initials B H. Bosnia-Herzegovina. I always just think of it as Bosnia. No wonder I couldn't think what country had those initials.

 

[plover]

Mine is indeed a unix command. Unix has a history of very short, almost cryptic program names, presumably to save keystrokes. Some unix program names are quite amicable, like "sed" and "awk." Others are kinda weird, like "ls" and "cp." Others are just downright awful, like "rmdir" and "chroot."

As it happens, when you use unix a lot around friends, you start trying to pronounce the unpronouncable onces, and it becomes a big joke. Eventually, one of the friends begins using "chroot" as a username precisely because no one is really sure how to pronounce it.

I assume your ratings here are on pronunciability rather than relation to function (for which awk and ls rate the lowest of your examples, IMHO).

I wonder how much of this depends on where or when you learn these things. I don't recall anyone ever trying to pronounce 'ls' or 'cp' any other way than just saying the letters ('ell-ess', 'see-pee'). I don't remember any conversations offhand where someone said 'chroot', but I don't remember ever being surprised by someone saying it differently than I hear it in my head (like the word 'cheroot' collapsed to one syllable. (I think of 'chmod' similarly, and 'chown', of course, is easy.)

I suppose if you pronouce `chroot' syllabically, you get "sh-root," or "c-root (holding the h silent)."

I don't know. Given that 'chroot' is a command where it's actually possible to see where the name derives from, pronouncing the 'ch' in a way different from the word it actually comes from just seems esthetically wrong somehow.

Yet another opinion worth what you paid for it...

(hmm... YAOWWYPFI)[/size]

 

[meteor]

When i joined this forum two years ago i was one of the fastest couriers of my city (and the fastest of my firm by far). This, jointly with my interest in astronomy made me decide to name myself meteor.
Now, I'm not so rapid. Age, fines and accidents have diminished my faculties

 

[Les Sleeth]

That's alright, I had to go look up the country with the initials B H. Bosnia-Herzegovina. I always just think of it as Bosnia. No wonder I couldn't think what country had those initials.

Yeah, all I could think of was British Honduras and then maybe the deities were Mayan (of course, now it's called Belize, but waaaaaaaaaay back when BH was born . . . no wait, that would've been the Mayan name ).

 

[Nereid]

Yeah, all I could think of was British Honduras and then maybe the deities were Mayan (of course, now it's called Belize, but waaaaaaaaaay back when BH was born . . . no wait, that would've been the Mayan name ).

Spooky ... I had the same thought Les! After not finding any (ex-)British colony in the Pacific that began with 'H'! (Henderson Island doesn't count - it was never called 'British', and last time it had inhabitants - one crazy person aside - was, what, 300 years ago? or am I thinking of another, nearby island?). But the language doesn't look Bosnian (where are those c's and z's with the upsidedown hats? the apostrophes look more like syllable markers).

 

[franznietzsche]

I got a story...

This one time my brother had a crush on a girl or was just friends with her, and one day she met, came on to me, and then slept with me. Everyone was mad.

This one time I met my girlfriends sister, and then she came on to me...

I got lots.

And this has what to do with the etymology of thine screen name?

 

[JasonRox]

And this has what to do with the etymology of thine screen name?

I read halfway through and people were talking about stories.

My name has no special significance, but back in the day when I played online games I had the name DeathMaker. If you relate it to troublemaker, you can see it.

I was also the leader of a small clan (hard to find good players) called USA. This stands for United States Assassins.

I miss the good old days.

 

[JasonRox]

On an other note, can we change our names?

I'm going to think of something new. I've had this name for so long, I'd like something new without starting a new account. I could join a different forum, but just about all the others have lack of respect between users. Sure there may be crackpots on this site, but overall this site is the most friendly.

PForums wins the 2004 Most Friendly Forum Award

 

[BoulderHead]

Wow, interesting. But I'm not sure if you've raised more questions than you've answered!

But I did answer the one question which was originally asked, so there should scarcely be any complaint. I could have backed out from my promise. :shy:

I've been racking my brain for deities with the initials B and H.

Now, now, you should stop racking it . You may recall from PM I do not give out my name (so three members I see have my encouragement to stop guessing out loud, haha ). Perhaps at this point you can understand my reluctance but if not, here is a little saying;

Jun pe'el taj nojxi janala, mi'ilic u kelemkuntaj a bak pec'e.
(One plate of big food, did not make a thin dog fat)

One interpretation; it means, if you should take your time doing what you are doing you will have all the time needed. But if you get greedy, you grab some and run away, so when it is finished, you want more, but you have blocked yourself.

In friendship,
-BH

 

[Loren Booda]

B & H? Bacchus and Hermes come to mind.

 

[BoulderHead]

B & H? Bacchus and Hermes come to mind.

Make that four members.

 

[Smurf]

Smurf, is he a little purple thing with hair flying off in every direction?

Well you see it all started when I went swimming in a river that 'supposedly' had nuclear waste dumped in it...

 

[Les Sleeth]

Now, now, you should stop racking it . You may recall from PM I do not give out my name . . . BH

I'd forgotten the specifics, but remember the feel of it. But you must know that at a site filled with an unusually high percentage of curious minds, you have hit every possible curiosity nerve. Thanks a lot for making us nuts!

P.S.
I think everyone respects your privacy (and should be starting to understand your desire for it). We are just teasing you because we love you. :!)

 

[BoulderHead]

Thank you for the sentiments and while I'm here I should practice some manners and express congratulations to you on taking the guru spot in philosophy!

 

[Evo]

Hmmm, the magical, mysterious BoulderHead. He knows the name of the Mayan Goddess of Suicide. Lived in Central America. Brilliant. Hmmmmm.

 

[franznietzsche]

Silly evo, Ix Tab was the mayan goddess of suicide, that's not B.H.

 

[honestrosewater]

Spooky ... I had the same thought Les! After not finding any (ex-)British colony in the Pacific that began with 'H'! (Henderson Island doesn't count - it was never called 'British', and last time it had inhabitants - one crazy person aside - was, what, 300 years ago? or am I thinking of another, nearby island?). But the language doesn't look Bosnian (where are those c's and z's with the upsidedown hats? the apostrophes look more like syllable markers).

Henderson is part of the Pitcairn group, the only remaining UK territory left in Oceania. Pitcairn is where the Bounty mutineers landed (their decendants still live there- IIRC about 50 people). Henderson and Pitcairn were previously inhabitied by polynesians, yes, at least 300 years ago (the island was uninhabited when discovered in early 1600s). But who is this crazy person you're talking about? Maybe I know what island you're thinking of.
I only mention this because I had to research French Polynesia for a play I was writing and I have never found any other use for this knowledge And this thread is so off-topic anyway...

 

[Clausius2]

Mine is evident. It came across with me when I studied the Clausius Theorem of the 2nd principle. It seems to me a bit superb and serius name. But when I suscribed here as Clausius, I forgot my password, so I had to suscribe again with another password and a similar name: Clausius2. And it seems more accurate than the first, because at the same time I admit the existence of the real Clausius and I don't use his famous name.

To FranzNietzsche:

Kafka and Nietzsche are two of my favourite writters. The discussion about if the Nazis interpreted wrongly the Nietzsche comments would be a large one.

 

[Nereid]

Henderson is part of the Pitcairn group, the only remaining UK territory left in Oceania. Pitcairn is where the Bounty mutineers landed (their decendants still live there- IIRC about 50 people). Henderson and Pitcairn were previously inhabitied by polynesians, yes, at least 300 years ago (the island was uninhabited when discovered in early 1600s). But who is this crazy person you're talking about? Maybe I know what island you're thinking of.
I only mention this because I had to research French Polynesia for a play I was writing and I have never found any other use for this knowledge And this thread is so off-topic anyway...

I think the Mentors are a little more liberal in GD regarding posts being OT (or not); besides, you never know when such trivia might be of interest ...

http://gohawaii.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Flibrary.puc.edu%2Fpitcairn%2Fpitcairn%2Fislands-map.shtml is a link with some interesting info (I remembered Ducie Island, but not Oeno) - click on each island for more background (the story I remembered was something like that of Robert Tomarchin, but that what drove him off was the rats ... I also remember it as being more recent than 1957 ...

 

[franznietzsche]

To FranzNietzsche:

Kafka and Nietzsche are two of my favourite writters. The discussion about if the Nazis interpreted wrongly the Nietzsche comments would be a large one.

I hate the misinterpretation that Nietzsche was either proto-fascist or anti-semitic, he was neither. He was definitely anti-socialist, and his sister was a proto-fascist who used her brother's fame to her advantage, and selectively published his last few works to her advantage ( a la The Will to Power). However, the only anti-semitic remarks i have ever come across while reading Nietzsche were in 'The Birth of Tragedy' when he blames the Jews for the birth of Christianity (which he considered a very very bad thing). In other works however he was clearly neither fascist nor anti-semitic.

There are two reasons Nietzsche has been subject to that misinterpretation:

1)Bad English translations for the better part of the first 60 years after his death. The Kaufmann translations arestill the best today and did not come out until 1966, and previous translationswere horrendous at best.

2) The Nazis took Germany's most famous (or infamous) philosopher and used him to their advantage, much as his sister did. The overman is not a biological evolution of man. To say NIetzsche was a darwinist makes little sense given the doctrine of eternal recurrance.

If you read 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' and 'Beyond Good and Evil' (his two principle works) there is no hint of either fascism or anti-semitism, although there are strong strains of hatred for christianity and misogyny.

 

[marlon]

I think mine is not too difficult to guess...

Let me give some hints for those who don't know: A Streetcar named Desire, Over the Waterfront, Last Tango in Paris...

regards

Marlon B...

 

[Clausius2]

I hate the misinterpretation that Nietzsche was either proto-fascist or anti-semitic, he was neither. He was definitely anti-socialist, and his sister was a proto-fascist who used her brother's fame to her advantage, and selectively published his last few works to her advantage ( a la The Will to Power). However, the only anti-semitic remarks i have ever come across while reading Nietzsche were in 'The Birth of Tragedy' when he blames the Jews for the birth of Christianity (which he considered a very very bad thing). In other works however he was clearly neither fascist nor anti-semitic.

There are two reasons Nietzsche has been subject to that misinterpretation:

1)Bad English translations for the better part of the first 60 years after his death. The Kaufmann translations arestill the best today and did not come out until 1966, and previous translationswere horrendous at best.

2) The Nazis took Germany's most famous (or infamous) philosopher and used him to their advantage, much as his sister did. The overman is not a biological evolution of man. To say NIetzsche was a darwinist makes little sense given the doctrine of eternal recurrance.

If you read 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' and 'Beyond Good and Evil' (his two principle works) there is no hint of either fascism or anti-semitism, although there are strong strains of hatred for christianity and misogyny.

I have nothing to add, because I agree with you completely. It was my impression too.

And yes, I have read 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'. I read it when I was 18 or so. To say the truth I have understood a few points of all the book (despite I was taking a course of Philoshophy at High School at that time). But the crazy and unusual atmosphere described in the book, evolved me and I felt myself into an imaginary world. Also he seemed to me as a guy that feels like to say the real truth, and who escapes from political recurrent ideologies that are made for feeding the social sense of merely good appearance towards the rest of the people.

I think we are deviating the main theme here...

 

[Artman]

Uhhhhh, I think you forgot to include your history of mooning bears, which is legend in Ohio.

Until that one took a swipe...terrible disaster (read dis-assed-her).

 

[Chi Meson]

Mine is indeed a unix command. Unix has a history of very short, almost cryptic program names, presumably to save keystrokes. Some unix program names are quite amicable, like "sed" and "awk." Others are kinda weird, like "ls" and "cp." Others are just downright awful, like "rmdir" and "chroot."

As it happens, when you use unix a lot around friends, you start trying to pronounce the unpronouncable onces, and it becomes a big joke. Eventually, one of the friends begins using "chroot" as a username precisely because no one is really sure how to pronounce it.

- Warren

I always imagined it pronounced "Kroot." It's been a couple of months since someone posted it's pronounciation as "chu-root" but I still can't stopp thinking of it as "Kroot." Not knowing UNIX, I actually thought it was Warren's real last name.

 

[Morbius]

"Morbius" is taken from "Dr. Edward Morbius" a character in the
50s science fiction movie "Forbidden Planet" and was played by
Walter Pidgeon.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

 

[Les Sleeth]

"Morbius" is taken from "Dr. Edward Morbius" a character in the
50s science fiction movie "Forbidden Planet" and was played by
Walter Pidgeon.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

When I was a kid and just starting to read science fiction I stumbled onto this movie. WOW, it was the best SF around then. I still remember being entranced when they found the underground world of the former inhabitants.

 

[Les Sleeth]

I think mine is not too difficult to guess...

Let me give some hints for those who don't know: A Streetcar named Desire, Over the Waterfront, Last Tango in Paris...

One of my favorite actors, and On the Waterfront is my all-time favorite movie.

 

[Les Sleeth]

And this thread is so off-topic anyway...

Hey, where's your etymological explanation? I've been curious about your name since I first saw it.