A Rose by any other name...
![Marquis's picture Marquis's picture](https://www.rationalresponders.com/sites/www.rationalresponders.com/files/pictures/picture-19770.jpg)
Why do you have the "screen name" that you have?
My own is blatantly picked from Marquis De Sade... in my own translation.
(I am a member of the Turbojugend [1]... more specifically the chapter Counter Earth... and my "warrior name" is Marquis De Sire.)
So here's a funny story from 10 years ago: The internet was young. And new to me. There was "chat rooms" such as Lycos or Delphi. It was all very silly. I registered the user name WhiteLordJesus - which is actually the name of a Norwegian band [2] that preceded the aesthetics of the black metal revolution with about 10 years - and this earned me the most unbelievable hatred from (mostly) Americans - which of course only made me more interested in exploring the correlation between some insignificant letters on a screen and the fierce feelings that were being exposed.
Anyway, I got rid of that name and re-registered as SemenOfSatan - which earned me some kudos! People were complimenting me on my eclectic choice of good manners and taste... and how "cool" and "awesome" it was. I myself was dumbfounded. WTF? Is this for real? I ouldn't help noticing that a lot of the screen names were - as they still are - very focused on fearful imagery and violence. There is no end to how many demons this-and-that or satanic devil images that float around out there. Why?
You'll get MasterOfDoom, VampireLady, TheExterminator... and whatever shit like that. I can't help but look at it and think that these people are retards. WTF? Is that egocentric totemism or what? As the amateur antrophologist I am, I will of course pay attention to these strange primitives and see if there are any reoccurring patterns of behaviour...
Anyway... why did you choose the screen name that you have?
"The idea of God is the sole wrong for which I cannot forgive mankind." (Alphonse Donatien De Sade)
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My screen name comes from the most boring or most egotistical of reasons. It is simply my real name jammed together JamesE.F.FredeRICK, call me Jim.
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
Well mine may not be obvious because the forum software truncated it for posts. However the full name is “Answers in Gene Simmons”
It is a joke on many levels. I happen to be a bass guitarist and Gene Simmons in the bass player for KISS.
According to the fundies it is an acronym for
Kinght
In
Satan's
Service
Honestly, I don't really give a shit. And considering that Gene Simmons is really Chaim Witzt, the son of two holocaust survivors who was raised in Israel, I suspect that he has little concern for x-tian themes as well.
The main idea though is that it is a deliberate slam on one specific fundie web site.
Answersingenesi[mmon]s
Answersingenissis
=
=
I just love Norse mythology. So I named my screen name after the world serpent: Jormungund. I wish I had chosen "Jormungund" or "Jormungundr." "Jormungander" is actually my least favorite spelling of its name. I have no idea why I spelled it that way.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India
My username is from, The Butter Battle Book, by Dr. Seuss. I'm not sure if I completely agree with the analogies presented in that book anymore, but it's still a cool name. Alliteration ftw!
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare
My typical screen names are either latincanuck, born in Canada (in Toronto the centre of the universe thank you very much
) and of latin american parents. The other is sickboyisit, sickboy being the nick I got in high school after a fight, got hit in the stomach pretty hard, continued the fight to end up on top of the guy, that punch had pretty much made me want to puke....so I did on his face, and since then i was known as sickboy among my friends. The is it part is just because there are various other sickboys on line.
there's always been a lot of curiosity about my handle, here and in other forums. i'm not sure why, but i get asked about it a lot and rarely reply because i'm an asshole, i guess. it's also often repeatedly misspelled, usually as iwbeck.
it's not in any way my name, and it has no pronunciation. i actually started to use it in a banjo players' forum a few years ago. it's an acronym for "i was born in east kentucky," which is a play on the first line of an early 20th century american folk ballad usually called "east virginia blues": "i was born in east virginia." i actually was born in eastern ky, hence the change.
here's a fantastic rare video of bob dylan and earl scruggs doing the song together:
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I just picked the first thing that came to mind.
It's a pun on my first name, Zack.
You know, I read and studied every word of <i>120 Days of Sodom</i> for a paper in college and to satisfy my own morbid curiosity. As a result of that book, nothing on the internet--I mean nothing, not even the infamous and horrible <i>2 Girls 1 Cup</i> or that Japanese vomit porn--will ever shock me now. That book is like trial by fire.
I chose smartypants for my first serious online journal because I'm very intelligent
, I'm a wiseass, and I have good pants. I've kept it and used it for a number of different things outside of business since then.
R
Oops, please to be imagining those were italicized...
Because, for someone like me... no matter which religion was right, i was totally fucked >.<
My gaming names on the other hand, correspond to my play style
"Total_Overkill"
What Would Kharn Do?
I once had a screen name that was linked to one of my hobbies. After some jerk stole it and bought the domain name just to spite me, I have since been careful to have screen names I am not attached to, and have little relation to much of anything. The exception is an email account I use for business purposes. That one is just my last name, no frills. So for this account, cj is my initials, first and middle names.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
I have gone by the name Jester for years.. I was the one who could tell the king he was being stupid and not (normally) be beheaded. And I live to make people smile with my MC work and time at Rocky Horror. One of my communal houses was named Midian.. and that House was called the Jesterspace. So it stuck.. being the name for most my internet activities. It's useful that Googling 'jesterspace' gives one a good set of links to my tracks on the Web. I *COULD* make up a fantastical story about the name being given to me by a dying extraterrestrial to fight for rationality and a good Philly Cheese-Steak...
"Imperious, choleric, irascible, extreme in everything, with a dissolute imagination the like of which has never been seen, atheistic to the point of fanaticism, there you have me in a nutshell.... Kill me again or take me as I am, for I shall not change.
On another forum I was useing a differant name and my avatar was a tapeworm for various reasons that made sense back then, someone got Tapey from that and it kinda stuck so i thought why not.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
You're all going to laugh at me for this, but my username is actually one that I made up for a character on... well... World of Warcraft.
That's right.
I'm a nerd. *i'm so ashamed!!!*
But if it counts for anything I've long since given the game up. I just keep the name because I thought it was pretty cool. I'll hang my head in embarrassment for a while, now.
Back when I was around ten or eleven, my brother and I became heavily interested in the wonderful world of professional wrestling, and we got some WWF game for the N64 which allowed character creation. You were allowed to create the superstar's "name" and "real name" as well. I had decided to create two characters to symbolize my best friend and I; Bashh and Smashh, "The Basterd Brothers". I didn't pick a real name for Smashh, but I did for Bashh which was Bobby Witt. I had no real reason to make these names up but I did, and Bashh stuck ever since. I've used Bobby Witt sometimes as a reprieve from Bashh, but these days a lot of search results for Bashh come back as myself, so I like to keep it.
Interesting tidbit is that Bobby Witt happens to also be the name of some baseball player. Which my best friend at the time had his baseball card. I never heard of the name before I used it though, so that surprised me.
Also, I sometimes go by "Hey it's Beebo" which is from a stupid Newgrounds flash video "The Cat What Has Facial Hair" which spawned into a series. It's worth a watch, the first one at least.
Once upon a time, when I first started visiting online message boards and IRC chats, I went by - Renee. SO creative, I know. As I began to find more and more information regarding atheism (I had no idea what the hell it was 10 years ago) my excitement grew and I just had to share with everyone that I finally figured out the name for how I had felt since a child.
I discovered that many of the 'chat friends' that I had made didn't like this particular event in my life. I was called many names, there were conversion attempts, and lots of defending of my position...but there was one conversation that stood out. There was no argument, no discussion, just a simple statement from "ladyinwhite" : "You are black inside, to the core!" and with that she was gone, she must have blocked me LOL.
Recalling a high school earth science discussion regarding black, obsidian glass, I decided to become renee obsidian. Soon after I placed 'words' on the end because I thought it was cool.
And I lived happily ever after.
Slowly building a blog at ~
http://obsidianwords.wordpress.com/
Given it gives folks a feel for each other. I like the obsidianwords Renee and Gallows what are you hanging your in head shame for? I still play original Command and Conquer and get this, I have a computer running Win95 that I have kept specifically for the purpose. I have a gigantic CRT screen the size of a house that I play on.
I chose my name because at a core level I'm angry with god and I want to kill him - personally. Given I don't believe there is a god you'll have to take this metaphorically. When I was young I was filled with the hateful message of god and my reaction as an adult is outrage with an emphasis on the rage.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
That's where mine's from, too. Not WoW, but Dark Ages of Camelot. I stayed with my brother and his wife when I moved down from Alaska, and they were always playing DAoC. Just to be social, I installed it, and started looking for a name. I usually went by variations of Ignatius Reilly (from A Confederacy of Dunces), but they were all taken. Eventually I went with nigelTheBold out of desperation. Even though I only played a couple of months (while I stayed with my brother), I kept the name.
I'm neither nigel, nor all that bold.
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
It's my name. Really.
I started using 'natural' on the Infidel Guy boards a few years ago. When I migrated to RRS, I kept it. The idea is that I wanted a word that represents not just atheism, but a good solid way of viewing the universe in contrast to nearly all religions. The most basic and simple concept I came up with that fit the bill was naturalism. But I didn't want to use 'naturalist', as that would introduce too many other connotations. So, I just shortened it to 'natural'.
The basic idea is to respond to the question so often heard: "So if you don't believe in God does then you don't believe in anything?" Usually with a sneer or exasperated sigh. Instead of just sneering or sighing back at them, I respond, "Of course, I believe in all sorts of things, just as everybody does. There's an entire natural universe to believe in and learn about. It's just that God is supernatural, and I don't believe in the supernatural, since there's no good reason to believe in it. Besides, the natural universe is so much more amazing without believing in unnecessary, imaginary, supernatural ideas."
Also, I had played with the word 'bright' before. I was one of the first couple thousand to sign the register at the-brights.net. But it always had that extra connotation that anyone who's not a bright is obviously a 'dim'.
Daniel Dennett responded to this by proposing a word for a person with a supernatural worldview: A 'super'. I thought, "Hey, that's not so bad. It's just short for supernaturalist. ... Hmmm, that's exactly the same as how I shortened naturalist down to 'natural'."
And so, aside from being my username, I also propose it to people as an alternative to 'bright'. You believe in the supernatural, you're a super. I believe in the natural, I'm a natural.
I've never gotten any objections from supernaturalists over this, and it makes intuitive sense, whereas 'bright' does not, especially if you're not aware of the connection to the Enlightenment which is why they picked 'bright' in the first place.
Another username I'm using now is 'wonderist', which I use on YouTube and Atheist Nexus, for the purposes of promoting my ideas on philosophy and its connection with science, atheism, and psychology.
I quite often intentionally do not capitalize my usernames because I don't consider these names as labels for myself, but as labels for some ideas that are not strictly my own. I am not *the* Wonderist, but *a* wonderist.
Wonderist on Facebook — Support the idea of wonderism by 'liking' the Wonderism page — or join the open Wonderism group to take part in the discussion!
Gnu Atheism Facebook group — All gnu-friendly RRS members welcome (including Luminon!) — Try something gnu!
Don't be ashamed of being a nerd, be proud of it! Try the link below and hang your credentials on your web page:
Wonderist on Facebook — Support the idea of wonderism by 'liking' the Wonderism page — or join the open Wonderism group to take part in the discussion!
Gnu Atheism Facebook group — All gnu-friendly RRS members welcome (including Luminon!) — Try something gnu!
No I don't. I really really don't believe in anything. Why should I?
But I relate to everything. I look at all the evidence before I make my decisions.
"And... quite frankly... your naive belief in "God" is nothing short of disgusting. Much the same way I find child molesters disgusting."
Nature is pure beauty. Existence is pure mystery. Feeling it all is pure wonder.
Having those repulsive lard sacks of filth roll all over that beauty with their hideous message just fills me with rage. I feel like I cannot breathe before I have at least made an honest effort of killing them all. Just enough so that I can look at myself in the mirror every morning without throwing up... because I am not really doing all I could do in order to exterminate this vermin from the face of the planet earth.
"The idea of God is the sole wrong for which I cannot forgive mankind." (Alphonse Donatien De Sade)
http://www.kinkspace.com
Now all the big nerds get to beat me up and take my lunch money away
You're using a different conception of 'believe' than I am, or most people are. To me, belief is just accepting an idea with enough strength that you're willing to act on it as if it is true. I think the version of 'believe' you're thinking of is more akin to the idea of 'faith', where you have to force yourself to believe something because it's not actually credible on its own.
Here's a test of my version of belief: I place a ball under one of two inverted cups, and you get to see which cup I place it under. Now, we make a wager. I ask you which cup do you think it's under. If you get it right, I give you a dollar. If not, you give me a dollar. For the sake of argument, let's say you saw me put it under cup A. Which cup do you think it's under? You have every opportunity to make sure there's no trickery. It's a plain and simple test.
If faced with this simple test, I would unequivocally say, "I believe the ball is under cup A." There is nothing mystical or faith-based about this usage of the word 'believe'.
Given this usage of the word, do you believe that Pluto exists? Would you wager a dollar that it does (or pick any number of dollars to make the wager an interesting test)? If so, then you believe in something, namely that Pluto exists.
I'm not willing to wager that God exists, but I'd wager everything I own, including my life, that Pluto exists. It doesn't take faith to believe something. Belief is just a natural state of the human brain.
Wonderist on Facebook — Support the idea of wonderism by 'liking' the Wonderism page — or join the open Wonderism group to take part in the discussion!
Gnu Atheism Facebook group — All gnu-friendly RRS members welcome (including Luminon!) — Try something gnu!
My username is just random
I started using "NoDeity" in the Religion section of Yahoo! Chat years ago when I was fairly new at being an atheist. I was interested in making contact with other atheists and arguing with theists so I wanted a username that was explicitly atheistic. I tried to use a number of other names (none of which I remember now) but none of them were available. After a while, I got attached to the name and just kept using it.
Reality is the graveyard of the gods.
Holy crap, I just found out that I'm a nerd. Which was unsettling to me because I was under the impression that everyone thinks I'm the coolest thing since server-side HTML embedded scripting or the JLPT2. There must be something wrong with that test.
There are twists of time and space, of vision and reality, which only a dreamer can divine
H.P. Lovecraft
Somewhere back around 1991 I was emailing with someone and we started signing our emails with characters from the mystery genre. That went on for a while and one day I signed "Hercule." as in "Poirot." The lady replied the next day with "Hi, Herk," and that stuck, and became my online persona. I've used the name just about everywhere ever since.
A few years ago, I opened a computer repair business as a sideline (closed down now). I called it "Herk's Computer Help," and customers began calling me Herk in real life, which was quite disconcerting. Some still do.
FINISH HIM!!!
*barf*
What Would Kharn Do?
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare
Yay! a Test, I love tests! Guess that explains my result, huh?
Theist badge qualifier : Gnostic/Philosophical Panentheist
![](http://www.mathematicianspictures.com/images_275/275w_MATH_P_FISQR.jpg)
www.mathematicianspictures.com
Wow , I am shocked, thought I was low level![Smiling Smiling](/modules/smileys/examples/001.gif)
Slowly building a blog at ~
http://obsidianwords.wordpress.com/
<a href="http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php">
<img src="http://www.nerdtests.com/images/ft/nq/3da57b0395.gif" alt="I am nerdier than 93% of all people. Are you a nerd? Click here to take the Nerd Test, get geeky images and jokes, and write on the nerd forum!"></a>
Does it really shock me? kinda.....I always figured I was more of a latin lover than a supreme nerd.....hmmm, maybe it's my nerdiness that women are attracted to me? Gonna have to find out now.
Depends, how much lunch money do you have? I ain't wasting my time for a dollar!
Not bad for an old lady, eh?
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
<a href="http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php">
<img src="http://www.nerdtests.com/images/ft/nq/b4f4c10bf2.gif" alt="I am nerdier than 39% of all people. Are you a nerd? Click here to take the Nerd Test, get nerdy images and jokes, and talk on the nerd forum!"></a>
Well, apparently I'm not that big of a nerd. I just do nerdy things and am slightly obsessive-compulsive. Oh well.![Smiling Smiling](/modules/smileys/examples/001.gif)
I thought spending all day and night on a computer would make more nerdy than 58 per cent. Prob should not be surprised, however. I nominated firefighter as the most exciting job...
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
HA! looks like all those fuckers in high school were wrong about me!
in all fairness, though, that test was totally biased toward math, science, and techno nerds. what, there are no history, philosophy, or literature nerds? i mean, i ALWAYS have my nose in a book, for christ's sake! i read on average three at a time!
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
ok, that's more like it...
It's my name![Smiling Smiling](/modules/smileys/examples/001.gif)
I am not a dork, or a nerd. This test is flawed.
I am, however, alpha geek.
I both drink too much and didn't take enough math throughout my schooling to be considered any nerdier than that. It seems accurate.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
try 2.0. it's more balanced toward the humanities.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
=
heh? no differance from the first one.
That's right. I'm consistent if anything, but I'm also cool.![Eye-wink Eye-wink](/modules/smileys/examples/002.gif)
Don't forget cute.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
Well thats what i got.