Simple meme question

[altivo]

Copied from wild_rhythm

What nicknames have you answered to over your lifetime?

By nicknames I take it we mean names other than my own first name or last name, and names I actually answered to rather than ignored as insults. So...

Not so many of them, really. I've occasionally been called by my middle name, "Lee", to differentiate me from others who share the same (common) first name. Lee was one of my father's brothers who died at a fairly early age, about 29 I think. It was also his mother's maiden surname.

In college I was called "Inurion" by many close friends. That name came from Tolkien-based RP and stuck to me in real life for several years. It's pseudo-elvish, not based on any actual linguistic root supplied by Tolkien, though a waggish female friend decided that it was from inur which must be "carrot" in Sindarin. I don't know why a carrot, and she never explained.

In the late 1970s I wrote personal ads in the Chicago Reader newspaper under the pseudonym "Fuffle" which was eventually learned by my friends who started calling me that. Consequently I used it online when computer BBSes and later the internet arrived. When I first found FurryMUCK around 1992 or 3, Fuffle was my character and he was a sort of nondescript shaggy canine. Contrary to frequent conjecture, the name does NOT derive from "kerfuffle" (a commotion) but is rather a portmanteau of "fluffy" and "cuddle".

Then in 2002 I began to participate in RP on the (now defunct) WildSpirits MUSH, where equines were the primary characters. That was when I adopted the name "Altivo" (which is a Spanish term used to describe a horse with elevated, spirited action) and it really stuck to me, though usually shortened to 'Tivo. So it is that I'm known in furry circles as 'Tivo or Altivo, and I do answer to either one just as readily as if it were my lifelong given name.

Comments

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

In the 1970s... err.. hmm. Fast forward... a lot. :p

A short list of past nicks...
Argus
Lampshade
Nightshade
Mirage
Hitler
Radar
Silence of the Lamps
(then I finally came up with Baphnedia)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hitler? Gack!

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That's what I got for knowing various pieces of Army 'trivia' during Basic Training. They called me that to both annoy the hell out of me, and to piss off my battle buddy, who was a Hebrew.

They succeeded in ways the Engrish language cannot describe.

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

The rundown, of which you know many of the origins;
Moose
Crash
Mad Dog
Quick Casey
Cuckoo
Quetico, the furry name I was going to be known as, but got over-ridden by;
Casey

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Casey is a good canine name, actually. I think it suits you. :)

[corelog.livejournal.com]

Other than my own name?

Rex (obviously)
B'Rex
T(-Rex)
CFB
Morph (again, obviously)

I haven't lived as long as others, so I really haven't got many nicknames yet. :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I so often want to call Morph, "Murf"...

And I like your real name, actually. ;D

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider,

Having the first name Max, there never seemed a reason for people to give me a nickname, other than the occassional Maxwell.

But when I first came on line, about ten years ago, wanted a horsey kind of name and came up with Steed (as in noble steed). Even though there are lots of Steed's, I quickly learned there are always others with just about any name one can come up with so I stuck with it since.

Where is Emma Peel? Heh, I named one of my Danes, Emma Peel (with John Steed, the Avengers, a fun British crime-fighting team).

On ScalesMuck, FurryMuck and Faibanx, played a gold dragon named F'lar (after Dragon Riders of Pern) and caught lots of flack for that and, as time went on, stopped playing him and went female with Goldy, a gold dragoness, which I now play mostly on FurryMuck. For some reason I do not understand, it is fun to play a gal, sometimes.

Imperator came just before I met you on WildSpirits as Cherokee (another female, this time an Appaloosa mare just for the kick of it - Cherokee flats her ears and backs toward you). You liked her lots, in spite she was a tough ol' mare.

I like Imperator for my flying Palomino flap pony because it sounds very austentatious and that is how I usually portray him, being a beautiful and proud stallion with wings. Suppose his nick would be Imp or Impers. Came up with him for you, mostly, once I learned you have long had a love for the mythical Pegasus.

Didlika was a raven I rarely play anymore. Is Athabaskan (Alaska Native) for raven.

Strange thing (or not?) is that, with exception of Diddy (hey, another nick for a nickname), all my characters are yeller (Steed and Imperator are Palomino, Goldy is a gold dragon). Grin.

Impers

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nah, Cher wasn't yellow. If anything she was usually braver than I was. I miss her, for all she used to pick on me and tease. ;p

Imp and Chrysios are my true loves, as well you know.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

I like your nickname or character name if you will.

I haven't been given too many nicknames in my life and the few that I have been given haven't been that great. My first name has been used or changed in various different ways.

I'll have to remember your psuedo-Elvish name :) "Finrod" as you probably know is an actual Elvish name. Tolkien wrote an interesting dialogue about death and the fate of man between two elves, one of them named Finrod. Supposedly, it is the equivalent to my real middle name, "Sean" so that's one reason why I chose it. I don't remember if it is based in Quenya or Sindarin.

And it is strange when you do start responding to a psuedonym just the way you would your real name as I know.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I've thought repeatedly that the story of Finrod Felagund is such a dark and gloomy one that it makes me wonder if your name has influenced your outlook in any way. Perhaps an association with a more cheerful character would do you good. ;D

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

It's really too bad the Wild Spirits Mush is dead now. I only just found out about it not long ago, and alas; I was too late. I think that if I'd been able to find time, I might have enjoyed something like that.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There were pockets of good stuff there all right, but in truth the whole scenario was badly damaged by politics and self-righteous arbiters of "correct" RP styles much too early in the lifespan of the MUSH. It too often became a furtive, hurried, and paranoid place to play.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, and BTW: The first character I played to any extent on WildSpirits was a burro called Panchito rather than a horse. Although the Altivo character was created first, I quickly realized that horses were being so strictly controlled in terms of what they could and couldn't do (and often in ways contrary to nature) that it just wasn't going to be any fun playing a horse.

When I went back to playing the stallion, it was more with the intent to be a subversive than anything else, and I did succeed in forcing some changes, though not enough alas.

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

Considering how far things have come today, I wonder how hard it would be to re-create something similar.

My new ISP (when my modem arrives) supports user run servers. Mucks and Mushes aren't exactly high bandwidth applications.

I wonder if the interest would still be there?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's a good question. I'm not at all sure it is. What with the huge explosion of the heavy graphics stuff online, like WoW and Second Life, I'm afraid not. Of course, those environments are inaccessible to the dialup user, but they still remove a huge chunk of the potential interest. Younger kids have no interest in text only roleplaying. It's only us older ones who are still doing it. Even FurryMUCK is only a shadow of its former self.

I have a part of WildSpirits archived here, and actually can bring it up and run it. It's just scenery, of course, minus all the characters and stuff. There were a couple of attempts to duplicate the idea, but I don't consider them to have been even as successful as the original, for various reasons.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

How about "Walks on Paffers"? :) *gets all giggly*

As far as character names,
"Jamie"
"Kittycat"
"Abrams"

Nothing else really, though my fox calls me some things I don't think I'll say here ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You know, one of these days I'm gonna paff you a good one.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I can't help it, I have this image of you being a wise and worldly scholarly equine, serious and very mature :)

Somehow the word "paffers" just shatters that into a my little pony type cuteness ;) Please don't take offense this cat just has a strange sense of humour.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not offended. Don't worry about that. It's quite intentional really. Your image gets shattered on purpose. I'm not all stuffy like that.

[doug-taron.livejournal.com]

Well, I STILL sometimes think of you as Fuffle. Especially here- comment threads remind me of the old Bears' Den BBS days back in the '80s. More than once when leaving smomthing here I have nearly called you Fuffle.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And if you did I'd respond to it, but I don't hear that one much any more.