Author Topic: What's Your Story? (Read 10406 times)

Werewolf · « **on:** May 06, 2009, 01:00:19 PM »

I'm gonna just toss this out on the table and say that for most of the folks here who post using a handle instead of their name that there is a story about how one acquired that handle. Those stories will range from interesting to funny to boring to wow and will in most cases be worth a read.

Here's mine:

During my service in the US Navy full beards were permitted. Though I normally wear a goatee, on my 1st Med deployment I decided to grow a full beard. My beard line is high up on my face almost to my eyes. When my shipmates saw it in full bloom more than one commented that I looked like a Werewolf. The name stuck and for the rest of my Naval service I was called wolf or werewolf by my shipmates - especially when on the beach.

What's your story?

BridgeRunner · « **Reply #1 on:** May 06, 2009, 01:08:09 PM »

Well, I was Delta9, because my first "real" kite was a delta with a 9' wingspan. I like kites, even if I don't have much time for them.

That changed when I was thinking about attempting to join the service as a lawyer. I figured (mostly correctly) that the physical requirements would be more lax for lawyers and I had a shot at getting in. Turns out that I'm way too decrepit to even lawyer for the Marines, or even the Navy, but when I was still working on that, I googled me one night just in a random attempt to see what made it to google, and learned that Delta9 is a somewhat obscure but still pretty clear reference to marijuana. I didn't think that either bar associations (I'm almost certainly flagged for extra investigation when I apply to the bar) or the military would be cool with that, so I changed it.

Now I'm bridgewalker, because it's about as harmless as it gets and ever since kiddo #1 was born, my family walk the Mackinaw Bridge every Labor Day. Kiddo will walk is for the fourth time this fall, when she's three years old, and kiddo #2 will only be a bit over a month old, but she'll come too. I like all things Michigan, and the Bridgewalk is as Michigan an event as it gets.

LadySmith · « **Reply #2 on:** May 06, 2009, 01:18:13 PM »

I chose mine because when I first got into firearms I was partial to Smith & Wesson.

Also, I'm not afraid to clue cyberspace in to the fact that I'm a female...who likes guns.

CNYCacher · « **Reply #3 on:** May 06, 2009, 01:22:30 PM »

I'm from Central New York and I'm into geocaching. Threads on the geocaching forums about which guns to carry which caching, and someone's sig line link to www.a-human-right.org is what got me on THR and eventually APS.

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #4 on:** May 06, 2009, 01:23:13 PM »

I chose mine because I am unimaginative, lazy, and have a complete lack of interest in being someone else, even for you bunch of crazies.

Brad

Regolith · « **Reply #5 on:** May 06, 2009, 01:27:02 PM »

Mine is going to be a boring one...

I'm into amateur astronomy (as well as geology somewhat) so Regolith made a natural handle. "Regolith" is the dusty/rocky surface covering of celestial bodies such as the moon and Mars. It's also a name for a rock layer here on earth, and means "blanket of stone" when translated from Greek.

Northwoods · « **Reply #6 on:** May 06, 2009, 01:34:54 PM »

I lived in New Zealand for a year as an exchange student. My host family never had kids of their own and had forgotten how much a 16-17 year old boy can eat. My host-dad took to calling Sump, because like a sump you could just pour stuff into me and it disappeared. I was probably eating 4-5000 calories a day and was not gaining weight. I was close to my current 6' and tipped the scales at a whopping 145lbs.

After returning home email was just starting to get popular enough that I decided to sign up for a Yahoo mail account. After a few tries at a handle based on my name without success I decided to try sumpnz in reference to the nickname Sump and the fact that it came from NZ.

Scout26 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 06, 2009, 02:44:07 PM »

1. Brad Johnson is not the real Brad Johnson. I went to school with Brad Johnson, and you sir, are no Brad Johnson.

Scout26 was my "Hollywood" radio call sign while I was platoon leader in the army.

Callsigns break down thusly:

(Catchy nickname) then
1- S-1 (Personnel)
2- S-2 (Intel)
3- S-3 (Plans and Ops)
4- S-4 (Logistics)
5- XO (Executive Officer)
6- Commander
7- Senior Enlisted (Either 1st Sergeant or Sergeant Major)

Platoon Leaders are then 16, 26, 36, 46 and platoon sergeants are 17, 27, 37, 47.

I could have been Stinger 35 (From when I was deputy Provost Marshal), etc... but I had already started using scout26 before I got off active duty.

Nightfall · « **Reply #8 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:04:49 PM »

I picked mine in my very early teens because it sounds cool.

No seriously, that's almost all there is to it.

wingnutx · « **Reply #9 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:10:11 PM »

I was in Navy bootcamp in 1988. My CC was walking down the line reading off names. He got to me and said "Wing---? More like wingnut!" and kept going. It stuck, and there are still a lot of people that call me that. Not bad, as far as nicknames go.

I added an 'x' to the end when some some guy on IRC kept taking my nick, and I use the same name everywhere I post.

41magsnub · « **Reply #10 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:11:40 PM »

Mine needs to be changed once I get creative. I started at THR trying to figure out the value of a .41 magnum pistol I inherited thinking that would be about all the involvement I had in that forum...

vaskidmark · « **Reply #11 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:16:31 PM »

As explained at least once before, I seem to have the inate ability to bring people to a sudden and alarming stop by asking the right question(s) at the right time. Someone in the bureauracracy once said that they could tell where I had been by all the skidmarks in the hallways - thus my name.

I had to be "vaskidmark" here because I somehow screwed up my initial registration and could not get it back. I added my geographical location, and here I now am.

The tag phrase I sign off with came from Vietnam, when everyone was advising me to "take care." I appreciated the advice, but always replied with my own wish that they "stay safe."

stay safe.

skidmark

cassandra and sara's daddy · « **Reply #12 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:30:50 PM »

mine is what the kids at day care call me when i drop off the brats

AJ Dual · « **Reply #13 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:40:09 PM »

Well, it's because I have an extra...

No, seriously, back in '92 out of High School I had a job selling PC's from a local IT/mainframe firm that did wholesale builds for the smaller mom-n-pop PC stores. The guy I shared the office with thought it was funny that I'd say "Dual Floppies" when taking orders from these computer stores.

He then assumed everyone with a first name of "Andrew" had a middle name of "Jackson" because of the president. I informed him it was not true, but he started calling me "AJ Dual" on and off. He was a nice guy to share an office with and it didn't bother me.

When I left the company, I forgot about the nickname for some time.

I had a variety of names on the internet pre-web, and when I started posting on web boards, I was often "Andrew Walkowiak" due to a lack of imagination. I noticed people were sometimes having trouble referring to me or quoting me because of my "complicated" last name. The only nickname I've ever had that I could recall was "AJ Dual".

Since I mostly reside on the various gun forums, it kind of fit. Perhaps it has connotations of a cowboy with a "dual rig", or Dueling. (shrug)

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:47:25 PM »

First intarwebz forum I joined was TFL and I saw everyone else there had aliases... many of which were based on favored firearms. Very very few people used real names.

I've just kept the same handle I came up with for that site, and used it elsewhere. I've used this handle on martial arts forums, tech support forums and other places.

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #15 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:55:36 PM »

Quote from: scout26 on May 06, 2009, 02:44:07 PM

1. Brad Johnson is not the real Brad Johnson. I went to school with Brad Johnson, and you sir, are no Brad Johnson.

That's not what the voices tell me...

Brad

charby · « **Reply #16 on:** May 06, 2009, 03:57:03 PM »

Charby? Some hooker I met in Shanghai.

mtnbkr · « **Reply #17 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:00:27 PM »

I'm a mountain biker. Actually, I ride more on the road these days, but I've had "mtnbkr" since 1996, so I just stick with it. Except on bike boards, where it's almost always in use. :)

Chris

cfabe · « **Reply #18 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:06:42 PM »

Back when I was a kid and my father set up our first dial-up internet account he shortened our last name and used "fabe" for the login. A few years later I added my first initial to it when I got my own account, and have been using it since. Not really all that interesting.

Teknoid · « **Reply #19 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:10:07 PM »

Boring, really. There was a local pizza place (late '70's) in my town that had some strange character on its commercials called "The Noid". I suppose I was considered equally strange. I ended up repairing friend's radios, stereos, TVs, and other electronic doo-dads. Somebody tagged me with the label, and it stuck. 30+ years later, I'm still fixing stuff (more advanced, but still stuff).

Harold Tuttle · « **Reply #20 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:11:46 PM »

Harry Tuttle: Bloody paperwork. Huh!
Sam Lowry: I suppose one has to expect a certain amount.
Harry Tuttle: Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can't make a move without a form.
Harry Tuttle: ...well, that's a pipe of a different color.
Harry Tuttle: Listen, this old system of yours could be on fire and I couldn't even turn on the kitchen tap without filling out a 27b/6... Bloody paperwork.

SADShooter · « **Reply #21 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:13:53 PM »

Started my web life as SA (San Antonio) Scott, and after several relocations became SAD (initials) Shooter (why I participate in most of the forums I do.) About as vanilla as it gets, I suppose.

MillCreek · « **Reply #22 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:30:22 PM »

Harold Tuttle, thanks for the flashback to Brazil. I had forgotten that clip. Excellent movie, Brazil.

MillCreek · « **Reply #23 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:36:39 PM »

My screen name comes from a small suburban bedroom community in Snohomish County, about 25 miles north of Seattle.

Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas · « **Reply #24 on:** May 06, 2009, 04:42:04 PM »

Everyone was fistful something or other at one time in the distant past. I'd seen a film/picture of Telly Savalas, so I decided to do put the two together.
The old moniker is Geronimo45, which comes from owning a .45 and adopting the pseudonym Geronimo during a Physics lab. There were only two people left in the course, and I was half of them. Only one lab report was turned in per team, so it stood to reason that the names were pretty unimportant.
It was a fun lab, though, sometimes. Proved that water doesn't freeze at 0 F.

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Author Topic: What's Your Story? (Read 10406 times)