Why? Members usernames.

I often wonder on the origins of a members username.

My name was invented by others.

I have a pronounced brow bone, Folk used to joke about balancing bottles of beer on it and called me Ledge. A bit annoying at first, but once I embraced it
folk used to ask others "Have you seen The Ledge?" or " When is The Ledge coming? ". You get the idea.... Hence my username, now used for 20 + years. TheLedge.

What's you're story?

Thanks for the opportunity Mr Ledge! Nice story right there! (:

Well, some twenty years ago, browsing the english-hungarian mid. dictionary without any special purpose, my eyes have stuck on  the word 'syzygy'.

Not just because of the 3 'y'-s, but the other letters.  - Sz. G. is the monogramme of my civil name. ('sz' is a diphthong in hungarian language), so it is quite simply my names initials, but a 'y' (a "Why?" (: after each character) ; SyZyGy

I thought it was great coincidence, a perfect "syzygy" to commemorate by using it as a nickname on the internet.

(some other uses can be listed by web-searches - because of its special look and meaning, this word can be a favored company- and/or nickname worldwide) 

To distinguish myself from others, I often use my 'full nickname' syzygy426, also I have created my own syzygy logo:


(sketch) 

Thank you syzygy for bringing to me to this post by TL.

My name's initials are J M and at the time of joining the old GEC I wanted to sign in as "JayEm" but some how I was not able to sign in with this name. I then used the name "CuriousJM" as it fits perfectly with "What" & "Where" objective of old GEC.

Aug 2, 2019 17:06:24 GMT CuriousJM said:

Thank you syzygy for bringing to me to this post by TL.

My name's initials are J M and at the time of joining the old GEC I wanted to sign in as "JayEm" but some how I was not able to sign in with this name. I then used the name "CuriousJM" as it fits perfectly with "What" & "Where" objective of old GEC.

Same case with me. Don't want to go full IRL but hhgygy is simply the starting and ending letters of my first and last name similarly to syzygy (mind you the first and last name in Hungarian and in Japanese are opposite to the rest of the world). I also have to add that gy is also a diphthong in Hungarian to make things more complicated.

I can't remember what I wanted to be, it's lost in the mist of time, the name was already taken.  So, living beside a canal lock it sort of developed.  And no, it might only be just over 2m wide but I won't hop over it.

My nickname couldn’t be more self-explanatory, I suppose. I didn’t start playing bridge at an early age, which is an advantage if you strive to be an expert, but I have played the game for nearly thirty years now, and it still gives me great pleasure. I only play online these days, something like a thousand hands a month. If you reckon three minutes for a hand, it adds up to about fifty hours a month. That’s the measure of my love for (or addiction to) bridge.

in the old "official" GEC, i had another nickname, starting with a K as well, like my real name
and, for some reason (?), in 2012, i modified it in "our" previous GEC @ freeforums.org
so i thought, let's be geographical so i took the europe map:

i activated street view (germany has always been a shame, hasn't it?)

(only chance) the pegman felt somewhere ...some uninteresting countryside...

and i thought this village's name in the middle of nowhere (population, about 250) is perfect

Křenek, Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic (never went there!), 50.2335617 14.6311768, SV link

about the tabasko logo, i can't remember exactly why and how... (though, the k for...)

because i don't like tabasco more than that

but i can remember i offered to my brother such a hot sauces poster (he does like those sauces a lot!)

and i thought, graphically the shape of this little bottle + the brand logo are very well known, very recognizable... huh, why not?!

that's all, folks!  

Nice one krenek! (:

My very first nick was syzygy426 where number came from a sci-fi movie - can you find out which?

And what was yours? I cannot remember... 

Aug 3, 2019 8:59:17 GMT syzygy said:

Nice one krenek ! (:

My very first nick was syzygy426 where number came from a sci-fi movie - can you find out which?

Maybe LV426 from the Alien movies?

My nickname is very simple: 63 is my year of birth. When I startet to use GE in 2006, I went to a German GE-forum that was globezoom.info. So there we flew over the virtual earth and posted our findings. I thought I needed an avatar of a bird, and the raven is also a mystical fellow. So raven63 was born

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more."

Aug 3, 2019 10:55:41 GMT Admin said:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more."

Exactly

Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

Aug 3, 2019 8:59:17 GMT syzygy said:

My very first nick was syzygy426 where number came from a sci-fi movie - can you find out which?
And what was yours? I cannot remember... 

i thought of alien too (i mean i had to search then i saw that raven63 already posted that!)

my first nickname was probably kernitou (i had been banned by our friend craig because i dared to criticize the work of the admins/mods), but, as you know, everything of the old GEC has been destroyed by google guys! (i'm going to comment about that in the right thread!)

what a logo!!!!

G'day all.

Mid 2005 found me injured, out of work and hunting for something to do. Enter the GEC that relived my boredom and has since taught me more about stuff than school ever did.

I've always been a bit of a larrikin so when time came to sign up I grabbed the Thesaurus, looked up Joker and went through them until one came up I could use and that is still my unchanged GEC name today.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary can explain it better below in bold.

You've probably already spotted the "farce" in "farceur." But although "farceur" can now refer to someone who performs or composes farce, it began life in the late 18th century as a word for someone who is simply known for cracking jokes. Appropriately, farceur derives via Modern French from the Middle French farcer, meaning "to joke." If you think of "farce" as a composition of ridiculous humor with a "stuffed" or contrived plot, then it should not surprise you that "farce" originally meant "force meat" and that was seasoned meat used for a stuffing-and that both "farce" and "farceur" can be ultimately traced back to the Latin verb farcire, meaning "to stuff."

So I'm an Aussie with a french nick and didn't that confuse poor o'l JohnLuke.

Aug 3, 2019 11:23:22 GMT raven63 said:

Aug 3, 2019 10:55:41 GMT Admin said:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more."

Exactly

Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

One of my favourite poets and writers

Aug 3, 2019 10:55:41 GMT Admin said:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more."

As it happens I used a quotation from the poem as a clue for a puzzle in the early days of our new GEC forum. Link

(Sad to see again that all the Photobucket images have disappeared.)

Indeed, the loss of the Photobucket images is sad. Much has been said about the loss of GEC, the work involved in posts, the knowledge shared, but what I miss is the personal messages I can't look back on - they can never be replicated as we have lost some of our friends. On a positive note - thank goodness for NGEC.

Right raven63 and krenek ; it was planet LV426. (or was that a moon?)
And how on earth I was sure it was in Starship Troopers...?

Mine is quite simple.  There was a time when I was quite good at turning sucrose into ethanol for a hobby.  That ended up as Alchemist somehow.  When I first decided to try Fun & Games, I needed an avatar and made the one I still use in short order.  The still in the avatar is actually an essential oil still.

Cliff

Unfortunately, I can not offer a story to my username. Willi is just a part of my real name.

Aug 3, 2019 14:26:31 GMT hhgygy said:

Aug 3, 2019 11:23:22 GMT raven63 said:

Exactly

Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

One of my favourite poets and writers

then you might also like Ambrose Bierce - just to advertise my related kmz on this board (;

sometimes he mentioned as "Bitter Bierce", best known about his dark style, which is said to be influenced by Poe.  

***
two hungarian issues I have on my bookshelf:

-Bagoly folyó (novella válogatás) / Európa - 1985. (link)

-Ambrose Bierce összes novellái / Szukits - 2003. (link)

after reading the first one, I had to buy the second! ... brutal cool! (:

Aug 3, 2019 12:20:19 GMT krenek said:

Aug 3, 2019 8:59:17 GMT syzygy said:

My very first nick was syzygy426 where number came from a sci-fi movie - can you find out which?
And what was yours? I cannot remember... 

i thought of alien too (i mean i had to search then i saw that raven63 already posted that!)

my first nickname was probably kernitou (i had been banned by our friend craig because i dared to criticize the work of the admins/mods), but, as you know, everything of the old GEC has been destroyed by google guys! (i'm going to comment about that in the right thread!)

what a logo!!!!

"...i dared to criticize the work of the admins/mods..."  

What?! Impossible!   

What fun thread, Ledge! As you all see, mine means...well...Diane. The numbers signify that I am getting very old. So creative, huh? One user name I have always wanted to know the story behind is Lrae, our venerable admin and final authority on all things. Once, in the oGEC, a member PM'd me and asked if it was his name spelled backwards. I could confirm, at least, that it was not. I've seen him quite a few times and emailed him, too, and I have always forgotten to ask! 

Ahhh, the good old days...

It took me a long time on who Lrae, and who beadiejay were 

Aug 8, 2019 4:26:57 GMT ET_Explorer said:

It took me a long time on who Lrae, and who beadiejay were 

and...? who were they then? (: 

it seems you like to peep behind the curtain, so afterall also need to ask: who do you know I am? ...(:


...and btw, Mr. Detective; -what to know about You? - How do you got that hood and mask?

Diane,



I DID ask Lrae once about his username, so I KNOW, but he may have enjoyed puzzling so many people for so long that he may not want to let the cat out of the bag. I suggest that you do, indeed, email him and ask, and ask if it is OK to share.



As for me, my first post on the GEC was delayed for some while why I pondered what I should call myself. In the end, I hit upon calling myself "I". In Japanese. Where there are no personal pronouns, but handfuls of words that can be used in place of them in those rare cases when doesn't use a name. That's right, the most common usage seems to be to speak about oneself in the third person, a process that seems so monumentally odd to me that I have never once be able to bring myself to do it. Instead, I usually call myself "boku," a form of "I" only used by men. (This word can also mean "you," when someone is talking to me.) The most common word (outside of one's own name) used to speak of the first person is "watashi," the word used in every elementary Japanese textbook. It is only later that one learns other versions of this word, like "watakusi," appropriate for formal and polite, or "atashi," a feminine version, overused by silly young things, or (wait for it) "washi," the form used by grizzly old guys.



That's only the beginning, however. "Washi" in Japanese has two other meanings: "Japanese style hand-made paper" and "eagle". While I admire the paper, the experience of using Google Earth from the beginning fulfilled my lifelong dream of soaring over the world, high to see mountains and valleys, low to see my neighbor's back yard. Moreover (SpaceCowboy not withstanding) the mountain that marks the center of MY universe has that name. Many years later, a guide who I had engaged to show me around Tōdaiji temple, took me back a little when she said, "I know why you chose that username. You are an American, and washi is your national bird." I couldn't say she was wrong. I think she had discovered another layer in my GEC brand that I had not been aware of.

My picture avatar, has changed over the years in GEC.
But I chose the "Red Hooded Alien" because it closely
resembled that of "assassin's creed" and "darth maul".

ET_Explorer : Represents someone who has interests in
astrology, astronomy, exterrestial life, ufo's,
the paranormal, cryptozoology, geography, and geology.

And now for the rest of the story...

Lrae has a long and many decades of creation story... It began before I was born. My uncle's name was Robert Earl Bitzan. During WWII, he was home on leave and some of his Army Air Force buddies came to his house and stood outside calling his nickname 'Robin'.
My soon to be mother (his sister) heard this and decided on the spot to name me Robin... whether I was a boy or girl.

Fast forward to the early 1980's and Dungeons and Dragons. I needed some names for my DnD characters... There were 3 that I used a lot.
Bombo the Slow... a half Orc fighter ( Mongo from 1974 Blazing Saddles )
Eru the Ancient... a half Elf Wizard ( Eru Ilúvatar is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth )
Nibor... A faithful sidekick of one or the other ( My first name backwards )

Fast forward to the internet and avatar names... Bombo was not how I thought of myself. Eru was taken, Nibor was kind of a fallback name. So I needed a new one. It was 1995 and I had just seen the movie Judge Dredd with Sly Stallone.
I wanted to be Judge Dredd... but I was too late, someone had that username on my service (Cruznet). So I needed a name similar... and I used my middle name backwards and became 'JudgeLrae'. Earl, was both my middle name and my uncle's.

One more jump in time to 2003 and Keyhole. I have no idea why I shortened it to just Lrae. Everyone had fun trying to pronounce it. Which is El Ray... not La Rey.

The End... Almost... My auto license is JDGLRAE

Great story, just great

This brand new member should give some background info on their nickname:
googleearthcommunity.proboards.com/user/5287

It could be a long and exciting story, 98u3489j9w8ur ! (:

...
EDIT:

Member of the Day:

googleearthcommunity.proboards.com/user/5296

Agent "a "? (:

I'm sorry I was not aware of this thread when our friend Steve (TheLedge) was still with us.

My username came about in the year 1999 when everyone was so concerned about the Y2K bug.

I was thinking why 2000 when it could be any time.

I was in the process of joining a chat room where the bug was being discussed and the username just popped into my head.

I've used it a lot since then, including on the old GEC Forum.  On some boards it is already taken so apparently I'm not the only one who asked the question.  Our electronic world could crash around us at any time.  Be prepared.  My avatar is, obviously, Willie Nelson.  People have always said I look a lot like him.  Or maybe he looks a lot like me .

Also, please stay safe.  We lose our family and friends for various reasons but a pandemic or an accident can take them suddenly and without warning.  Be nice to each other.  You never know when you may lose someone.  Don't let them go with bad feelings between you.

I am grateful for the friends I have made on Fun & Games.  I would never get to meet anyone from another country any other way.