How/Why did you pick your screen name?

[diablo]

I've noticed some pretty unique screen names on this site. I'm interested to know how my fellow chowhounders came to pick the screen name they did. Mine is the name of one of my cats.

[geekyfoodie]

Geeky = chemist, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica (as opposed to bears, beets, and Battlestar...)

Foodie= self-explanatory... although I guess I'd probably be GeekyChowhound nowadays, given that "foodie" has developed a little bit of a bad connotation.

I'm not very imaginative. Sigh.

[onceadaylily]

What, no Star Wars? Because I can definitely see Han Solo trying to coax Leah to try just a little bite of the meal in your avatar. Luke was more of a freeze-dried from the vending machine kind of guy, I always thought.

[geekyfoodie]

Oh, I love Star Wars, too... just not as much as Star Trek or Battlestar. ;) Do bars on Tatooine serve craft beer?

[onceadaylily]

Of course they do. And they make their own Bantha jerky.

[ShepherdBGoode]

A very dumb joke/pun--too much Chuck Berry and not enough Sunday school--thought about the Good Shepherd one day, and "Go, go, go, Shepherd B. Goode!" Waited years for someplace worth using it, and here you go. Shortened by laziness to "Shep".

One of my favorites, just for how it sounds, is "heidipie".

[Jadore]

Lots of reasons. I was in a VERY romantic mood (my husband, then-fiance had just written me a love letter that made me cry tears of joy), I'm half French, it's the name of one of my favorite perfumes (Jadore by Dior!), and I couldn't think of anything better, and I REALLY needed to ask a question, so I just went with it. :D

Cute post!

[al b. darned]

Why al b. darned?

As jfood so aptly put it:: "Anonymity is important..." That, combined with my natural instincts towards contrariness and non-conformity.

It goes back to the dark ages when I upgraded my computer from DOS to Windows 3.1. Near the beginning of the install, it asked me to put in my name, like I wouldn't remember on my own. (Right after wanting me to name my computer.) Since it would not let me proceed without a real entry (I tried just a blank space, and various symbols) I came up with Al B. Darned.

I soon discovered other software automatically inserts this name into its own "insert your name here" space upon installation. I installed a new fax program that did this and used it as the "sender" on the cover sheet (that I didn't know it would send).. A business colleague thought it was funny and it kind of stuck, though since then I am careful about checking the defaults.

[TheDewster]

My nickname in school

[corneygirl]

I live in Iowa + my sense of humor + gender = corneygirl

[kattyeyes]

HA HA--cute! You already know I totally love your avatar. And whenever I see it, I wish I had more Emily Strange apparel. :)

[buttertart]

That is fun. What part of IA?

[corneygirl]

@ kattyeyes - There is no such thing as enough Emily Strange

@ buttertart - Iowa City

[roxlet]

Rox is a nickname from HS where someone mis-heard my name, and then everyone started calling me Rox. Only people I know from HS still do. The 'let" is part of my maiden name.

[shaogo]

"Shaogo" is a mis-spelling of the Chinese words "Xiao Gou" meaning "little dog." It's the nick-name some of my first Chinese friends gave to me (it's too complicated to explain; had to do with my bite actually being worse than my bark!)

To this day I collect dog pictures, statues and the like. Sadly, I cannot own one again until I retire; my profession would require that I be away from the pet for too long during the day and that's just not fair.

[onceadaylily]

I have a thing for daylilies, after growing them in my first garden. Each blossom gets its time to open, snagging the spotlight, but that blossom is still part of a greater whole.

I've had an interesting life, with wild swings in fortune and its reversal. Each new period of my life has brought out a facet to my character that needed to be explored. I am careful to remember this, even when times get a bit tough. I remind myself that I am always exactly where I am supposed to be, learning to use what I have, and try hard to give each day it own identity. I know all this sounds a little silly, but I think of the whole of the plant as being my life, and the garden around me is the world I am bound to do my part in.

I don't *always* succeed, but I try. A girl gets points for that, eh?

[LindaWhit]

Can I just say I love your outlook? Would that more of us could view ourselves in the same manner - I'm jealous. :-)

[onceadaylily]

Oh, don't be jealous. Self-forgiveness is built into my little philosophy for a reason. ;)

[Passadumkeg]

Beautiful, even if this thought is coming from a guy that gnaws on his steak bones while dining at fine restaurants. We have a big mound of day lilies in bloom in our garden right now, between the sweet peas and asparagus, both of which are still producing. We are blessed w/ wood lilies in the forest behind the house, they are prolific. I transplant them to the very shady area of our yard.
onceadaytrillium

[onceadaylily]

Thank you, passa. Whenever my boyfriend and I move, he now knows to look for several things (a good kitchen, trees visible from the windows, and lilies in the yard) before he even checks the water pressure or the size of the closets.

[Passadumkeg]

I think wild flowers are truly a divine gift and fill me full of wonder and pleasure. Psst, don't tell anyone that Ole Keg is a sensitive guy.

[Solstice444]

This is my AIM screen name, so I decided to use it for Chowhound as well. Of course, hardly anybody uses AIM anymore. But how I came up with it in the first place is that I'm a meteorologist and wanted a screen name that would have something to do with weather, but nothing struck me. Then I started thinking of other fields that I'm interested in, such as astronomy...I decided that I liked the word solstice, and 4 is my favorite number, so I added a couple of those to the end because somehow on AIM, "Solstice, Solstice4", etc. were already taken. And there you have it!

P.S. Happy day after the summer solstice! And winter solstice to all you southern hemisphere folk.

[haolebaby]

what is this "aim" that you speak of?? :P

[haolebaby]

Haole is a derogatory word for white folks here in Hawaii. I've heard a couple explanations of what it meant one being without breath, either that we were dead (ghosts) or didn't kiss in the manner the Hawaiians used to ("sharing" their breath). But mainly it's because
my husband always gives me a hard time about being haole since he is actually from here and isn't white.

[chocHollyK]

My name is Holly and I am a chocolate addict.
hence ChocHollyK....
the K meant to emphasize the hard 'ckkk' sound, tho' many confuse it and call me 'chocohollyKay' (phonetically speaking)....
and should read roughly as chocaholic... oh well I tried.... LOL

[kattyeyes]

"Hi, Holly!" Welcome to CH! That's funny and a neat intro. I will now pronounce you properly in my head when I bump into you on the boards. I have the same addiction. ;)

[DomesticDizziness]

I'm a newbie member, but have been lurking for years. Chowhound is where I find the best advice, recipes, new ideas and, of course, hilarious stories.

My name is a reflection of the state of my kitchen, my cooking and....me, in general. My family and friends would readily agree. Although I've found great things can come out of a whirlwind of butcher block, flying veggies and a decent set of cookware.

[buttertart]

Butter tarts were my mother's specialty (and she taught me to cook and especially to bake from the time I was old enough to stand up beside her in the kitchen). It's an hommage to her and to my Canadian heritage (you can take the girl out of Canada, but you can't take the Canada out of the girl) and to the fact that I am a tart for butter.

[Tripeler]

I really love the Tripel style of strong, blonde beer in Belgium. So I made that into my name.

[cosmogrrl]

Way late to this posting, but I'm new here so please forgive. Plus it's a thread that really shouldn't die anyway, IMHO.

I actually named myself after my dog, Cosmo. She was my best friend through moves to three different states, NY, FL, and CA (which is where I grew up). She even shared my love for spaghetti marinara. I attached the grrl part because when I was posting to BBS and USENET groups I wanted it to be clear that i was female. In the old days only boys could use computers, and i wanted to clear that up. We can use computers (and even hack them, sssshhh!) but we smell better. I chose grrl because, well, I was naming myself after my dog.

I've been using this handle for many, many years. Never used my real name for anything, even in the last century. As a computer scientist student I figured that the internet would one day be huge, and I like to be as anonymous as possible.

Basically all of my online names are related to my dog, including the latin alphabet version of her name in Japanese, Kozumo. Unfortunately, she' gone to the happy hunting grounds, but I still make enough pasta for her when making spaghetti, a habit I can't seem to break.

[meatn3]

Welcome!

You are right, this thread is too good to languish in the archives.

Your story of your "name" is great - I would have probably thought it a reference to the drink or magazine! It is interesting how often pets are used as part of our chow identities.

[bushwickgirl]

I'm so late to this thread it's embarrassing!
I used to post as sixozpatty, 4-5 years ago. It was a nickname a now-deceased friend gave me and got started as a reference to the size of the hamburger patties I cooked at a club where I worked. We started with 4 oz patties, then graduated to 6 oz when a customer complained the 4 oz version was too small. So, as the size of the patties grew, I did too, literally, and hence sixozpatty. I even had matchbooks with sixozpatty printed on them (a gift.)
After not having a computer for a few years, I couldn't remember my sixozpatty handle and registered as bushwickgirl; it's named after a neighborhood in Brooklyn where I've lived for a few years, not very inventive, more practical; I'm still not sure if I like living here. Sometimes my handle is corrupted by other posters to bushwack or bushwackedgirl or bushwickedgirl or even brunswickgirl. It's really ok, I think it's amusing.
Anyway, I read this entire thread and it's been quite fun. I often wondered how people came by their pseudonyms; now I know!

[kattyeyes]

Ohmygoodness, your other kitty is beautiful, too! Of course, I'll always think of you as a black cat like me. Yin and yang, eh? This big, white fluffy and the other sleek Cocoa!

[bushwickgirl]

She's "Puff Baby" and although she looks so innocent, she's a little devil masquerading as a cat. Yin and yang, yes.

[BeenThereAteThat]

Love your cat, wackybushgirl!

[DonShirer]

Just noticed this thread. I obviously chose my name because when Alzheimer's hits, I'll have less to remember!

[alkapal]

ah, but that's assuming you'll remember "DonShirer."

[Ima Wurdibitsch]

I'm rather talkative so Ima Wurdibitsch fits. I originally came up with it when I started blogging. I've taken an unintentional hiatus from the blog but I still use the name here and a few other places. I hope to resume blogging again someday soon.

[alkapal]

i'm seriously thinking of changing my screen name to what is written here as the #1. requirement to enter the tower: http://www.engrish.com/2009/11/enteri...

"the ragamuffin, drunken people and psychotics are forbidden to enter the tower."

[LindaWhit]

LOL! Ragamuffin was something my mother used to call us kids after we came in filthy from playing outside. We each had nicknames when we were young, and mine ended up being Muffin. (My sister's was Beasty - don't ask). But I love Ragamuffin as a name. But you should remain alkapal. :-)

And I have to say #4 is pretty funny as well "...including the peculiar smell of effluvium." :-D

[alkapal]

yes, linda, i particularly liked the reference to the "peculiar smell of effluvium."

and don't forget, don't you be carryin' no "baleful biology." (#6).

checky: http://www.newsweek.com/id/216133

[cuccubear]

Just call me "PSE" for short...;->

[LindaWhit]

Public Service Effluvium? ;-)

[Scargod]

The only applicable "public service effluvium" I can think of is the noxious sulfur smell in natural gas.
How about "el stinko"?

[cuccubear]

Stinkybear? Uh...I think I'll pass on that one :-{

[alkapal]

ummm....just don't "pass" that one.

[Popkin]

Long time lurker, recent account creator, and first time poster :D

"Popkin" means sandwich. A few years ago, I read part of the Dark Tower series of books, and the main character Roland at one point shifts from his reality to one like ours. Anyway, in this body he is hungry, and initially requests of a sterwardess a "tooterfish popkin", which he quickly corrects to "tuna fish sandwich". Ever since reading it, that word has stuck in my mind.

*hello chowhounders!*

[cuccubear]

Hi Popkin

That "Chops and Apples" looks great!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Welcome, Popkin!

[Boccone Dolce]

Wow am I late to this thread party!

Many years ago, when I first moved Back to NJ- I came across this site- back when it was blue background, and the threads were staggered in a different format. There was a LOT of hard-core opinionated, passionate people. I had a stupid user name that sounded like a porn star (it was a long time ago-and it was actually 1/2 of my real nickname!) but I rarely posted, mostly read.

Years later when I decided to sign up again, No way did I want a cutesy/sex-kitten type of name. I was trying to stick to my Italian-ness, but 'Dolce' was too...sweet. I decided on Boccone Dolce or 'Sweet Mouthful'. And it annoys me too, but that's ok.
;o)

[MattInNJ]

My name is Matt, I live in NJ :-P

[Paulustrious]

I wanted a name I could use across sites, something unique so I didn't have to remember. So I invented a name many years ago and ensured it didn't already exist in hyperspace, nor would it ever likely be used by anybody else.

I also have a password generator that generates unique passwords for each site based on the site name, my master password and a standard encryption algorithm.

[kattyeyes]

It's the PICTURE in your avatar I'd really wish you'd explain. I hold back from asking every time we wind up on the same thread, but I'd love to know what the hell you're doing and why you appear to be doing it naked (or at least topless). ;)

[Paulustrious]

One seriously hot day, T shirtless and having shared some red wine and kirs with friends, we had reached the dessert which I decided should be a flambed ice-cream in a cheese cake sandwich with a berry compote. (Recipe books are for whimps.)

Seemed a good idea at the time. My friends considered the moment was worthy of a snap.

[kattyeyes]

Quite the Kodak moment and a fun story to boot. Sounds like a helluva dessert and it's a helluva online image, too--especially perfect for this site. Thanks for sharing!

[Budget Palate]

At the time I was trying to educate myself on how to eat well on a budget. The more i read about it, the more I realized that this is a common goal of both rich and poor. There seems to be something intrinsic in humanity that thinks that you can, and should, eat well and live well for not alot of money.

Also I thought Budget Palate had a catchy sound, internal rhyme or alliteration or whatever.

Now I regret the name because it does not reveal gender, and, at least for me, I like to know the gender of the other people posting, although you can usually tell. I also regret the name because I look up to the more mature posters on our site and they usually seem to include some portion of their real name. I wish I had just said JAKE-iS-Baked or something. Yeah, that would have been more mature....

Also, my first post was on "Asheville on a budget". At the time I thought, now this will make a great post that no-one thought of before. Turns out, every couple of months, someone writes in with the exact-same or very-similar post. And, every time, some of the same patient / helpful people write in with the budget suggestions, just like they did for me, making me feel welcome. That's one of the things I like about this site.

Well, i had a couple tonight and I think i may be on here typing too much, so it's good night,,,

[beccabones]

beccabones is a nickname of mine from when I would do street art, my name's rebecca & a pair of skeletons was always like my little 'signature' ... hence bones.
=]

[Demented]

I am Demented.

I love practical jokes and have a somewhat warped sense of humor. A friend started calling me demented years ago, didn't care for it at first, but it stuck. In time I accepted it.

[peppermonkey]

I love how this thred continues to go on and will continue as long as chowhound exists...mine was inspired after watching top chef 1 when one of the judges called the contestant a "peppermonkey" for his overuse of the popular spice. I'm Korean and we tend use an excessive amount of spice in our food. Also was born in the year of the monkey '80. So it seemed like a good fit.

[Delucacheesemonger]

l was fortunate enough to retire from medicine very early in life. Have been traveling around the world for many years now selling cheese at retail shops thus far in 5 countries and 6 states. When l found out about Chowhound, was working in Manhattan at Dean & Deluca, thus the easy name. Still working, still traveling, but no longer at D & D.

[kattyeyes]

I have cat's eyes and katty eyeglasses. I thought it would be wise to live anonymously online as I already drive around the state of CT with my real nickname on my license plates. My avatar is my fabulous feline otherwise known as "The Queen!"

[Delucacheesemonger]

Ah, license plate, mine is 'FROMAGE'

[kattyeyes]

Love it--so perfect and cheesy and I mean that in the most complimentary way! :) Should I ever see your plate, I will honk and wave.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Moved to different state last year, new tag, as can be seen on avatar is 'stinky'

[kattyeyes]

Well, that STINKS. I liked the old you! ;)

[Passadumkeg]

We used to have 2 identical red SAAB 900T's and the kids always got confused when we said, "Get in the car." One day I went to DMV on a whim and returned w/ new plates, "HERSAAB" and "HISSAAB", no more confusion. Our son the chef had WASAABI. Now we have 3 SAABs, 3 models, 3 shades of red, and SAAB is giong out of business due to GM's mismanagement. GM deserves to die.
End of SAAB story.

[alkapal]

love the saab story. i'll bet you're a favorite teacher.

[Passadumkeg]

I make them cook if given the opportunity. Like Water for Chocolate? Taught a social studies course on food migration.
I'm a punny fellow.
Oh, cod!
Chow,
Mark

[purple goddess]

I had a beautiful Saab, little blue 93 soft top. I called her Wabi Saabi, but no one got the reference.

[Sam Fujisaka]

How can they not get the reference to the small pool of water and oasis in the Saud?

[purple goddess]

it's actually a play on 侘寂 imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete

[Katie Nell]

I'm still a little sad that mine is so boring, my real name, but I just couldn't think of anything that I would want to be called all the time and that I would have to see all the time. And I don't want to start all over with a new screen name, because then I would lose all my posts! At any rate, if I could start over, I would probably use Little Mighty Dynamite... my husband decided that if I ever did roller derby, that that would be my nickname... but, I could never do roller derby because I'm a wimp! A girl can dream though! ;-)

[diablo]

I am tickled pink that this thread is still active! Thanks Chowhounds!

[alwayscooking]

Another easy name -

always planning, doing, delivering
in the kitchen
and out

the whisk is the whip in the kitchen . . .

[silvergirl]

(singing loudly and off-key) "Sail on Silvergirl, Sail on by! Your time has come to shine. All your dreams are on their way. See how they shine!" Just a special song to me, it captured a moment in my youth and makes me think of springtime and roadtrips.

[cuccubear]

Wonderful silvergirl! There’s nothing like Music and Food to spark a special memory. Nothing else takes you back quite like it.

[Glencora]

Huh, all this time I thought it was "silver bird."

[alkapal]

attributed to Paul Simon: "My girlfriend at the time was particularly saddened upon finding a few grey hairs in her brush, lamenting that she was getting older. I wrote that lyric as a tribute and inside joke to her. I don't know how the heroin connection rumor got started. The song is basically about friendship."

[TampaAurora]

I made my start on my own in Tampa and I love the story of Sleeping Beauty - Briar Rose - or Princess Aurora. I also love the Aurora Borealis. It's not an exciting reason behind the name, but it is all mine.

[alkapal]

TampaAurora, no relation to Delta Dawn? ;-).

with good wishes (and a heater, this morning!) from fellow floridian, alkapal...

[TampaAurora]

I had to look up the reference - I was raised by two hippies from Philadelphia, I am not a country girl. They left the 60s behind in most ways, but music was not one of them. I'm enjoying the weather now - Florida is beautiful in the Spring.

[davina]

This thread caught the attention of a columnist who appeared to be wasting time online: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/p...

-davina, who has always been sort of happy that she has a given name that is not often taken as a screen name already by other davinas (but I love it that there is a daveena on CH too)

[hannaone]

LoL!!!!

Getting paid to visit sites like chowhound for "research".

[workinglunches2]

NOT just to chow, but to chow on Company nickel!! Priceless.

embrace the "working lunch", "the "lunch-n-learn", the "take out workshop", Training catering, and of course we're "visiting customers" Chow opportunities.

[snix]

My screen name has absolutely nothing to do with food, just a small problem I have of laughing at inappropriate times. I am new here... and wish I had found this site years ago.

[mdfifi]

I'm fairly new to the boards after lurking for almost a year before my first post. My Nan-grandmother- had the most influence on my love of food- cooking and eating. She used to call me Fifi so this is a small dedication to her. I live in MD, so there you have it. Great thread!

[alkapal]

welcome, mdfifi. good thing you clarified your screenname....i was thinking of a big white fluffy poodle who had gone to medical school! http://www.privatjokr.com/media/square%20poodle.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgur...
;-).

[mdfifi]

alkapal,

thanks for the welcome and I loved the pics! :) Although I have a cute little toy poodle, I have never attended medical school. I enjoyed reading your profile.

[capeanne]

Mine is a slight bastardization of the part of Massachusetts where we rehabbed our weekend beach house which was a slum . The process nearly killed me , my marriage and any hope of a comfortable retirement.The food connection is that DH didnt want to do a " second " house. But I bribed him by promising the kitchen of his dreams ( he cooks...good) and now he has the kitchen, I have the beach house and we may retire when I am 105.

[Wahooty]

This IS a fun thread...the long-burning question, "Why a hungry pangolin?" has finally been answered.

When I was in my first year of college, I used to go to football games with one of my dorm friends. Whenever we scored a touchdown, I'd do my own booty dance in the stands to celebrate. (I still do it in moments of happiness/silliness, and am told it's quite cute. I have to take these people at their word, because I am hardly objective in matters of my own adorability.) After one particularly fun game, we came home and stopped by a friend's room who was one of the RAs in our building and also a staff member of the student-run theater group we had joined. We told him about (and demonstrated) the Booty Dance, and his response was, "Aww yeah...Booty Beth!" The name quickly shortened to Booty and kind of stuck among our theater friends, as I stayed active with that group until graduation and stopped finding it odd to hear someone yelling "Booty!!!" at me across the street as I walked to class.

And this happened at the University of Virginia, whose students and alumni are known as Wahoos, (or 'hoos, for short). This is because we yell, "WAHOOWAH!" at sporting events including, yep, football games.

A few years and another degree at another university later, I moved to Toronto, where my only friend was the boss who offered me the job that brought me here. I started looking for ways to become acquainted with my new city and meet new people, while also keeping in touch with friends back home. Among other things, I joined a couple of message boards and started writing a blog; however, while I've met some wonderful people online, I've also had some shady experiences with online friends, so I wanted an online identity that didn't use any part of my actual name. Since some of my dearest friends are ones I made in college, I went with Wahooty.

Plus, it's just REALLY stinkin' fun to say. WAHOOTY!

[alkapal]

it's fun to say this, too: "hooty snooty, bo-booty, wa wa toe-tooty, fee fi fo-booty... wahooty!"

[Wahooty]

You know, that IS fun. Maybe the next time someone asks me why I picked my screenname, I'll just go with that. It's certainly much more concise. ;)

[Sam Fujisaka]

"Wa a wa hooty, come on an take a chance on a new romace" (to the tune of "Watusi").

[Wahooty]

I had no idea my alter ego was so musical! Thanks Sam...now I have the hope that someday my grandchildren will sit at my feet, rapt and awestruck, as I regale them with tales of my brief internet celebrity and the time I was serenaded by the legendary Captain Pissgums.

[edible complex]

my mother made me do it.

[alkapal]

beautiful photo there, edible complex!

[edible complex]

thnx!

[Caitlin McGrath]

For many years, there was a cafe in Oakland, CA, called the Edible Complex. They served desserts from Toot Sweets bakery.

P.S. My screen name is self-explanatory, I believe. It matches my driver's license.

[tmso]

I just removed most of the vowels from my name, along with one of the consonants. If you pronounce the names of the letters, it almost sounds like my given name.

[alkapal]

ah, still the mystery! tee-emesso. ;-).

[tmso]

It wasn't meant to be much of a mystery ... Wheel-of-Fortune style: T _ M _ S _ O.

(Its translation to French on my profile page takes even more of they mystery out of things ;)

[alkapal]

gotta call my mom for "wheel" advice ;-).

[Sam Fujisaka]

Tommaso, forse siete italiano anche se vivete in Francia.

[tmso]

Esattamente, o quasi: sono della origine italiana. Maybe I should un-translate my real name on my profile page to make the screen name more obvious...

[Gigi007]

My screen name is a combination of my nickname and love for James Bond (007). I am especially happy to be able to use it on Chowhound since I used to participate in another site where they insist on real names in order to be recognized as a major contributor, which is bs since the place is full of fake people and fake reviews.

[alkapal]

gigi, fellow bond aficianado here. see my thread here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/588778

DEFINITELY check out the link from xaga! su-perb!

[Gigi007]

Thanks, Alkapal. The link is great. I love all things Bond although I think I'm in the minority in saying that Pierce Brosnan was the best Bond. Am not a huge fan of Daniel Craig, but am trying to keep an open mind! Thanks again.

[Passadumkeg]

Any beat Roger Moore!

[Luvfriedokra]

I couldn't think of anything all that clever-I just thought about the first food I became obsessed with and put Iluv in front of it. Next time I make a big batch I'll take a picture so I can have a matching avatar!

[BeenThereAteThat]

Mine came from a Random Letter Sequence Generator.

[JanPrimus]

Jan Primus is one of the most commonly accepted person know to many as Gambrinus. Is most likely is a bastardized name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambrinus

In Short... "Gambrinus is a legendary king of Flanders, and an unofficial patron saint of beer or beer brewing."

I used to try to get Gambrinus as my screen name but a bunch of dirty Belgians usually had beaten me to it.

[alkapal]

how do you drink beer through that mask? ;-).

[JanPrimus]

I use the force of course!

[alkapal]

"The force is a force, of course, of course, but who can drink with a force, of course
That is, of course, unless the force is the famous Jan Primus.
Go right to the source and drink with the force
It''ll give you the buzz that you will endorse.
It's rarely on a steady course.
Drink with Jan Primus!
....

You never heard from a drinking force?
Well listen to this: "I am Jan Primuuuuuuuus!"

written by alkapal, 2009. ****

---------
with gratitude to mr. ed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2AlIhBFtLo

**** for another famous alkapal song styling, see "romaine," written under the pseudonym "j.j. kale". ;-). http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5740...

[JanPrimus]

I need to go to the bar with you! Then Drunken Karaoke will be the order of the night or very early morning (Of course it will be at a place that does not offer Karaoke).... Someplace like a courthouse.

[alkapal]

drinkin'? ok -- especially nearby some of your brisket and scalloped potatoes!
karaoke? maybe
courthouse? let's stay away!

.... now, to test for karaoke, let me hear you say "wiiiiiiillllllllbuuuuuurrrrrrr." ;-).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu9QLZ...

[lcool]

boring,uncomplicated ;first initial and last name,mine not the husband's

[Candy]

It is just my nickname. Candy short for Candace.

[tracylee]

Another boring one here, first and middle names, easy to remember. Although a friend once suggested that I marry her brother so I could be Tracy Lee Lee. Didn't happen.

My username in another venue has a better story: Tobiko. I actually stole it from my 11 year old Siamese cat. Before I got him, my sushi chef (OK, I spent alot of time there, he wasn't really mine) and I went through the menu deciding on names for the next cat I would have. After I actually used it, he laughs at me for naming my cat "fish eggs". It's also my favorite sushi item.

[greygarious]

I used to raise and show Siamese and Oriental Shorthairs, and developed something of a reputation for coming up with good names. I had a grand champion White Oriental named Little White Liza, and named a champion red spotted tabby Oriental male Tobiko, Toby for short. his father was a red ticked tabby named Kim Chee, KC for short. But whenever people heard it, they assumed it was "Casey" since he was a redhead.

I retired from the cat fancy several years after adopting my first retired racing greyhound. Having become involved in the continuing effort to save the thousands of greyhounds which are killed every year when they are no longer profitable, I have several handles, all with "grey" in them, and my late hound Puma is my avatar. I chose them because if people ask, it gives me an opportunity to talk up the breed and promote adoption. A few months after adopting Puma (named for the running shoe; his predecessor was Reebok)
I adopted a mostly white greyhound with large black patches. People always asked if he
was a Dalmatian, which also gave me an "in" to start talking about the breed. I had that dog 10 years, and made a point of later adopting 2 more white&black greyhounds (Rorschach and Spottacus), for the PR value of that coloration.

[gatun]

I am a Zonian ( from the Canal Zone in Panama) Gatun is the town where I lived last

[alkapal]

dang, and i was half-hoping that "zonian" was another kind of alien....;-). as in: "i'm from the andromeda galaxy, from the star system 'zonia'" and i'm here to help you."
<now where have i heard THAT before?!>

[Caralien]

Mine is boring, as it's my name (a combination of my father's middle name and my mother's first name; my older sister has her own unusual spelling from my father's first name and mother's name, with a touch of Dutch because she was born in the Netherlands).

[Sam Fujisaka]

So your father is Joe Car Jones and mother is Alien Vaan der Hooven?

[Caralien]

No, sorry, not a space alien who makes cars, although my uncle raced them for awhile. My father is Jon Cristofer and my mother Lieng, and we happen to not be Dutch (although both my maiden and married last names are German).

Apologies for any confusion.

[alkapal]

but i liked the concept of space alien with a nascar! ;-). beam me up, jeff gordon! (my niece-in-law's love....)

[maplesugar]

Love this thread (and I don't know how I missed it when it started)

My story is pretty boring compared to most. I'm canadian and grew up going to sugar shacks in the winter. I love maple syup/taffy/sugar/butter, you won't find Aunt Jemima here :)

[alixium]

my screen name is my real name changed to resemble an element of the periodic table of elements.
Of course, there is no such element. Funny how I hated science in high school... but isn't cooking science as well? I guess I am part scientist, then!

[cuccubear]

In an effort to keep this thread going, my back story is fairly simple, although it has nothing to do with food...

Cuccu (kooky, unusual or weird [but in a good way!]) + Bear (hirsute male) = cuccubear!

I attribute the cuccu part (with a slight Spanish spelling) to a flowerpot that, just like in the cartoons, fell on my head when I was a kid. I’ve never been the same since, ha... The bear part speaks for itself.

Anyone else feel a weird vulnerability after doing this? I sort of feel like I’ve been unmasked!

[alkapal]

hey there cuccubear! i'm thinking hirsute male with a flowerpot on the head is purr-fectly fabulous! (as long as those incisors in your avatar are kept under control!)

obviously this is no relation to the carnivorous kookaburra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookaburra -- which your screen name always evokes for me! ;-

)

(i also am thinking of the "cuckoo" song from the "sound of music" ("so long, farewell"): http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/th...

[cuccubear]

“auf wiedersehen, adieu...” I know that song well, alkapal. As for the bird, the only things we have in common are our carnivorousness and laughter ;-) Hee hee haha!

[gardencub]

ok, so mine screen name must be relatively easy for you to figure out

Garden = florist and gardener for years Cub = slightly younger, more playful hirsute male

Now Gardencub is no longer a florist and is in culinary school to become a pastry chef, but I am still a playful fuzzy guy...

[cuccubear]

I hear ya, gardencub! Good luck with Culinary School...playful, fuzzy Pastry Chefs are alright in my book!

[gardencub]

Furry guys with flower pots on their head are fine by me too, even better if they like to cook and eat good food.

[Flamingo]

I chose my screen name because ... I love Flamingos! The lawn variety irritate the neighbors to no end. He he ... Some day, I would like to own my very own flamingo lagoon.

[WTBD]

WT = world traveler and BD = my initials.
Not very foodie, but easy for me to remember since the WT relates to my email address (if not the fact that I was born/raised in the US, lived in Japan for a few years, and now live in London as a recently naturalised dual US/UK citizen.)

Plus, I kinda like the way it sounds: W-teebeedee. Now there's an idea for my next screen name!

[alkapal]

i immediately thought it stood for "what's the big deal?"

sorry, no offense intended. (but it is kinda funny....)

[WTBD]

Ha! I never thought of that! Goes to show how few TLAs and IM acronyms I use on a regular basis... LOL. Oops, there I go :)

[alkapal]

"lol" is not a stranger to me.

nice to meet you, dubyateebeedee.

now, it sounds like a radio station's call letters!

"dubyateebeedee in cin-ci-nat-teeeeeee." yep, there is one, but it's in delhi: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/...

[WTBD]

Venus Flytrap! The coolest DJ, ever! I thought Bailey was definitely a better role model than Jennifer, as beautifully blonde as Loni Anderson may be. But my real crush was on Andy. That feathered hair - ah! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

And one more reason to visit Delhi now!

Thanks, alkapal!

What's the big deal? I'm just WTBD.....

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

I started wrtting a food newsletter that turned into more than just food and I needed a pen name for it ...I live in Bermuda, I love gourmet food and making everything I do gourmet (like drinking morning OJ out of a wine glass, turning a normal moment into a great moment) and well the Goddess, a friend dubed me a Goddess in the kitchen...for short BGG...so there you go ...I am the Bermuda Gourmet Goddess, it;s about the food and so much more :)

[washingtonred]

I stubled across chowhound while looking for some wine pairing advice... I am a redhead, from Washington, and I happen to love red wines.... easy enough ;-)

[cassoulady]

Every year I make cassoulet and I am a lady so cassoulady is my name. Every time I log into CH, or my cassoulady email, I smile, it makes me laugh.

[alkapal]

any new hounds care to share the "back story" for their screen name?

[ola]

I'm an artist and used to make soft sculpture dolls. Ola is from Hola or Spanish for hello and bambola is Italian for doll. So, it's kind of Hello Dolly by bastardizing two languages.

[meatn3]

alkapal, you read my mind! I was thinking that this thread needed to be revisited!

[cgfan]

Due to my interest (obsession?) with coffee/espresso, many are forgiven to think my screenname cgfan stands for Coffee Geek Fan, after the CoffeeGeek.com site.

Alas, cgfan stands for Classical Guitar Fan.

[Enorah]

thought it was crab guts fan

LOL

[cgfan]

Yummmmmm...

[Delucacheesemonger]

Damn, should have thought of that one for me

[Scargod]

Mine is from a long-time nickname, "Scargo". Escargot is a snail, which refers to me being slow or slow talking. The spelling came from a joke about a snail and a red sports car with a big S on it. "Look at that S car go!"

I originally had Scargo on Chowhound, before cnet, but when I changed email address I didn't know how to get it back, since I had forgotten my password. So I appended it to what it is now. I do have a few scars but I'm sure not the God of them...

This was my red RX-7 sports car. I used to race sports cars in the SCCA. but that was about 25 years before this hotrod.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Hey, I used to build and race Datsun 510s in the SCCA - about 30 years ago. (That's "Sports Car Club of America" for those of you who get cranky about acronyms).

[Scargod]

I was a little before you. Raced in the Southwest region in H Production. I guess you were G. I built everything, pretty much. Did machining, fabricating. Also soloed an old Porsche before that.
Hah! I think I wanted someone to ask.... or see if anyone (here), knew (and I guess you've read my acronym post?). Moderators thought it was an "acrimonious" post before I changed it up!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Of course. I was laughing with you about your acronym post.

[mcjane]

I chose mcjane, my sons' idea, because my name is Jane McLaughlin

[bitsubeats]

my screen name comes from one of my favorite bands in highschool/college (rarely ever listen to them now, unfortunately), Yume Bitsu. They are a dream pop band with a Japanese name and I believe there name in english translates to dream beats. So I took the Bitsu (beats) part and added the english translation to the end of it. I've been using the same username since the late 90's early 00's. Just like the way it sounds, I guess (: it's kinda cute

I would like to change it to sheenagreena though, bc that's the username I use on another food website (egullet). Sheena being my name and greena because I am OBSESSED with the color green.

[alkapal]

bitsubeats, i would never have guessed your name was sheena! ;-) i assumed that you were asian from your posts that are so knowledgeable about asian food.

[bitsubeats]

I'm half Korean...so that sort of counts as asian. Oh and Sheena isn't necessarily a western name, it's a popular name in Japan.

[alkapal]

okay, bitsu! thanks for teaching me something new! ;-P

(the only sheena i've "known" was miss easton! dang, she's held up well: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/feat... )

[bitsubeats]

yeah my mom named me after her in particular. Guess it shows my age (25)

[purple goddess]

passa, I to, thought I had responded to this thread over a year ago?.. Maybe there's another one floating around CH somewhere!

I am purple goddess, known as pg or peeg. Really.. That is REALLY what people call me! I am peeg to my husband, Auntie Purple to my nieces and nephews, Purp or Purps to peeg to my friends!

Purple is not just my fave colour, It's my obsession. I have a purple front door, purple spouting, purple couches, purple cookware, a totally purple bedroom. I wear mostly purple.. Hell, I even have a purple stapler on my desk!

And Goddess, cos I freakin' well am one!

I have more real-life manes that you've collectively had hot dinners... my birth name, my adopted name, my married name, and I changed my legal first name 13 years ago, but through our all the name changes, pg has remained!

Purple goddess was my very first screen name on the Net, way back in the early 90's and it's stuck.. It's my name on every site/message board, and will be the name of my deli, when I retire and set it up.

I plan to me Purple Nanni, when I have grandchildren!

My hubs Net Name is Furry... and like me, EVERYONE calls him that.. to the point where a friend of ours said recently "Does Furry have a real name? {pause}.. actually don't tell me, I don't think I could handle it!"

[diablo]

Thanks, peeg. Great story behaind your name! My mom dressed me in all purple until I was old enough to object. It is her fave color, too. All pics of me up until the age of five I was dressed in shades of purple. After that, It was plaid bellbottoms and flowered shirts ( my own pick---it was the 70's, what can I say?)

[LindaWhit]

I'm just getting back to reading this thread, and I *love* that you're Auntie Purple to your nieces and nephews and Purp to your friends - you DO love purple! LOL

[Passadumkeg]

I thought I had already responded to this thread, but I guess not. Passadumkeag is a small town north of Bangor, Me. But the name comes from a song, from a really corny local Maine band, The Wicked Good Band. They sing a song entitled "Hey Bartender, Pass-a-dumb-keg!" As a lover of both beer and bad humor, it seemed a natural for me. Of course I misspelled it. An English teacher here who can't spell a lique.
I really enjoy and appreciate a lot of you. Up here in Lower Galoshes, Me., I don't have many opportunities to talk about the foods of other cultures in which I have lived. Also, I enjoy the comraderie and wit on the sites. You all help me make it through many a cold snowy night. With kids spread out In Korea, Austin, Tx. and next month, Phuket, Thailand. Chowhound allows me to prepare to crash on the kids. (Look out Sam, one wants to settle in Columbia!)
I have now developed a friendship w/ one hound and have email contact w/ a few more. Cool.
Peace, Pax, Paz, Pais, Mir and Fred

[chocchipcookie]

Your posts are always very funny.I always think of the keg parties of my youth when I see your name. Anyway, you reminded me of my trip to Maine with a carload of southerners. We had a lot of trouble pronouncing many of the lovely towns in Maine but the one that still makes me laugh is (sp?)Dermascota. They were calling it Damn Mosquito with their southern twang!

[Passadumkeg]

It's a way the locals have of spotting folks "from away". Wisscasett is Wis-cass-ett, not Wis-ca-sett. Mt Desert Island (Acadia National Park) is pronounced Mt. Dessert by the locals and the absolute worst is to pronounce scaaalop instead of scahlop!
But the best is the tourist who complained that his LIVE lobsters were brown and not bright red. Thought he was sold bad ones!
"The Maine License is the Only License with a Dead Animal on It!"

[diablo]

LOL, pdk! So happy this post is still going. I love the contributions. Thanks for posting everyone. It's great to hear from so many different people....

[michele cindy]

When ever I see your name I think of the old movie, "Pete's Dragon"
which takes place in a town called "Passamaquoddy".

[Passadumkeg]

Passamaquoddy is a real life Indian tribe and reservation in Maine.

[tracylee]

Passadumkeg, my SO moved out west here from Old Town, ME a year ago. I've always appreciated your insights into the area he came frome!

[Passadumkeg]

Just don;t go makin' fried full belly clam w/ them thar gooey ducks clam. You'll choke that poor boy.
ps Your Portland is named after our Portland.

Give Patty Griffin a listen; she's and Old Town alumn too.

[smalt]

yummmm.....geoducks!

[tracylee]

Not a chance, haven't looked into them for personal consumption, I've only seen them at the sushi bar.

I've been watching "A Chef's Kitchen" based in Maine, and heard about full-bellied clams for the first time. We did get a pound of steamer clams from Sagamorelobster.com last time we ordered, and I was surprised at how much bigger they were than steamer clams out here.

I'll definitely look for Patty Griffin. I only spent a week in Old Town, last December *shivers* and look forward to visiting again. My SO may have to go out soon to take care of his house, so I'll be following along his culinary adventures from here. Hmmm, I wonder how many lobsters from Hanneford's will fit in a suitcase?

[Passadumkeg]

It's - 5 degrees outside right now and we just got 2 feet of new snow. Beautiful!

Hit Ruth & Whimpies in Hancock on Rt. 1 (1hr drive from Old Town) for lobster 18 different ways! Cheap and funky, but no view. The dessert pies are lethal.

You can als go a little north of Old Town and visit the village of Passadumkeag, climb Passadumkeg Mountain and swim and fish in Passadumkeag Lake. But I, PassadumKEG, live on the coast.

[soupkitten]

omg i got totally busted singing along to patty griffin at the top of my lungs while rearranging the dry storage the other day. that "i went up to the mountain . . . because you asked me to. . . " song. you know the one i mean.

i walked out and the dishwasher was standing there listening to me. have no idea how long he was there. it was a good laugh. :)

[Passadumkeg]

Mil bessos!

[Passadumkeg]

Passadumkeg also reflects my love of suds. I used to know the name for beer in 18 languages, even Navajo. I don't care what brand of beer, as long as it is not lite beer (The beer industry can't spell either."). I will not drink lite beer. Also reflects my high self-esteem. My other consideration was "Chowderhead.
Have a good standard time day.

[manomin]

Manomin is the Ojibway name for wild rice. I am Ojibway (Chippewa) and also happen to eat lots of wild rice! My last name is Konadalow which means bread in Oneida my other tribe. Of course I have an anglo name that is the commonly known one and keep the
one my family named me for personal reference hence, Daknuns Roundwind Konadalow.

[Frosty Melon]

I adopted mine after I posted this years ago.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/297381

[meatn3]

What a great thread, and a great choice in a name! This thread has me now pining to change names to "tragic aspic".

I just picture a Goth dinner party gone very, very wrong...

[ideabaker]

Great topic! Glad to see so many people responding as I've also been curious about screen names. Mine's "ideabaker"... I like to cook up new ideas in the kitchen, and I get ideas from everywhere I eat, whether at friends, company dinners, restaraunts, hotels, or roadside stands... though I don't bake as much as I cook, "ideabaker" sounded better than "ideacooker" :-).

[ChowFun_derek]

My name is ...

ChowFun

I guess that it's self explanatory...

[alkapal]

chow fun, one of my fave dishes! esp. fresh noodles. ;-)

[manraysky]

Man Ray Sky comes from an R.E.M. song. I also used to go to a Goth club called Man Ray when I was college, and I'm a fan of the artist, as well.

[danhole]

I wondered if there was a link to the artist. I am a fan, too, and aren't the Wegman dogs names a tribute to him as well? Man Ray and Fay Ray. I believe I read that awhile back, or saw it in a museum.

[manraysky]

Yes! I love the Wegman dogs.

[ms. clicquot]

My screen name is obviously an ode to Veuve Clicquot champagne. I'm not any kind of champagne expert nor do I even think Veuve is nessecarily the best but it has become my husband and I's go-to champagne over the years. We often bring it to gatherings and we even toured the caves when we visited Reims with some friends a few years ago. We've had it on countless New Years, the night my husband proposed, midnight sledding in the Eastern Townships, for graduations, weddings, or maybe just a regular Friday night we want to make a bit special (although for budgetary reasons we typically stick to inexpensive cavas or proseccos for the bulk of our sparkling wine needs). It makes me think of my friends and family, good times and good food/drink. What more does one need out of life?

[Father Kitchen]

And I got mine from my Father Provincial. When I was local superior in our Berkeley House, I cooked often; and when the Provincial came around, I usually tried to do something nice with fresh vegetables from the Montery market or Andronico's, cheese from the Cheese Board, and bread from our own oven (made with Giusto's flour bought at the Food Mill in Oakland). He began to look forward to visits with us (not just for the food) and started calling me Fr. Kitchen.

[marmite]

I love your screen name. It reminds me of Father Christmas.

[amymsmom]

I use this screen name for everything - using it for CH was just plain laziness.

Anyway, Amy is my daughter's name; M is my last initial; and I'm Amy M's mom - get it?

[moh]

wondering if you are Korean. There are people in my hometown who I only recognize as "So-and So's Mom" or Dad. If you said their real name, I would not recognize the name at all. This is apparently a Korean thing.

[amymsmom]

No, I'm not Korean. But I never really thought about the name - it just sort of came to me, when I picked my current e-mail address. I just kept using it for most of the web sites I read/communicate with.

Two things keep coming back to me about the name from growing up in the same town my dad grew up in, and bringing up my daughter initially (we've since moved) in the same town my husband grew up in.

When my dad married my mom and she moved into town, she was "A's wife". My mom is more outgoing than my dad, and over the years met and became friendly with many people. As time went on, my dad became "S's husband", as if Mom was there first!

Later, after I married, I worked fairly long hours, with an added 2-3 hour (both ways) commute to NYC. I kept working till my daughter was 2 1/2. Her babysitter was involved in her daughter's school and other activities, so Amy just came along like she was a daughter too. Everybody knew Amy, but since I was rarely around, nobody knew me. Thus, I was "Amy's mom". I think I put the "M" in because amysmom (w/out the M) was taken!

[Sam Fujisaka]

So, can I be "DanaZsofiaClaireAtsukoNicolesDad?

[hannaone]

LoL Sam -
Korean tradition is to (normally but not always) use the eldest child's name.
While I was in Korea my name among Koreans was Victor's Dad. Before my first son was born, I was known as Min Hui's husband. When the military would call asking for me by name, the Korean who answered the phone would invariably say "Wrong number". Caused me a lot of grief when I didn't show up for some mandatory drill.

[moh]

Hannaone, were you in the Korean military? I've heard it is pretty hard core!... Not that I thin American Military isn't, but I've heard some pretty scary stories about the Korean military.

[hannaone]

American.
Stationed in Korea for seven years, three of them at a Korean military base where I learned a lot about Korean food and customs from the Korean soldiers there.
And yeah, they are pretty hard core.

[moh]

This certainly explains your depth of knowledge of Korean culture.

I know a fair number of people who have done a lot to avoid military service in Korea.

It is a difficult situation, the on-going Korean War. Peace some day I hope.

[pietro]

Man, I feel so dumb. My name is just my name...

[Miss Needle]

"I know a fair number of people who have done a lot to avoid military service in Korea."

Yeah, I know somebody who pretended that he was crazy and spent three weeks in a mental asylum to avoid service.

This thread was fascinating. I guess I'm a bit late to the game, but better late than never.

Now about my name... No, I'm not a seamtress. I'm an acupuncturist. Several years ago, I was treating a teenager who hated needles but was forced to receive treatment by his family. He would try to run away from me and saw me as a very evil person. He'd plead and beg and say, "Please, Miss Needle. No. Needles scare me." The name stuck (pun intended).

[alkapal]

miss needle, i hope he got better! thanks for keeping this thread alive. i've really enjoyed it.

[Miss Needle]

You're welcome. Yes, he did get better -- but he may have said that just to avoid my needles! : )

I hope other people weigh in on this thread. Would love to read more responses.

I always wondered about your name. I would have never guessed alka-seltzer. Growing up with a lot of GI issues as a baby/child, Alka seltzer was my friend as well.

[alkapal]

yes, miss n, my alka-pal has taken a (welcomed) back seat more recently. still, my pal, however! :-) it is in my travel kit!

[diablo]

Miss Needle the story behind your name is priceless! Thank you for sharing---you gave me a good laugh :)

[foodperv]

food well for food and the other half is i have a twisted mind thats all

[y2ksrvivr]

Having "played" around with home/desktop computers since, ok I am going to date myself here, using the Atari game console to run the "first" spreadsheet program for home, VisiCalc, I was very amused with the media's and government's hyperbole regarding the impending "computer doom" associated with the year 2000 or Y2K as it became known.

Quite honestly, I have learned to expect this type of sensationalist reporting from the press but didn't really think our own government would also be guilty as well. In any case, I always knew that the hype would never match the reality, and that January 1, 2000 would not be the "Day the Earth Quit Spinning Because Computers Stopped Working".

So around the middle of December I was thoroughly enjoying the increased gibberish that was mounting on the upcoming "crisis". Looking back around this time, I think most of us probably did not go through a day, let alone an hour, where the Y2K subject was not spoken or written about.

Everywhere you looked (and by now the rest of the world had seemingly bought into the hype too) Y2K talk dominated. Politicians, scientists, priests, lawyers, doctors, barbers (and yes, chefs too), etc. were going back and forth about what type of Armageddon might be upon us. I chuckle even now recallling the food hoarding and building of "safe" bunkers, etc. that was going on!

So here I was, kind of "grinning like a Cheshire cat", watching the events unfolding when I went in for my annual cardio check-up (foie gras and pork fat may rule, but you got to check them pipes you know :-). Everything went well, or at least I thought, cause I didn't pass out from the stress test or anything. However, my doctor called me a few days later to say that the nuclear stress test results showed I had some clogged arteries and needed an angioplasty procedure ASAP!

So it was around December 20th now, and you could have literally knocked me over with a feather. I realized how ironic it was that as I was enjoying the unfounded speculation about the "impending doom" of the world, I might actually be the one that did not live to see the year 2000!

The procedure was scheduled for the 22nd and I distinctly remember my last words to the cardio surgeon was to do his best because I needed to see Y2K! As it turned out, the nuclear test results had yielded a "false positive" (talk about double speak!) and the angiplasty was "downgraded" into a "mere" angiogram! Lucky me! If I could have sued those "nuclear knuckleheads", believe me, I would have! It still burns me up today (and I'm not talking about the memory of the thallium sensation either)!

Anyways, as I was making the traditional midnight toast to the New Year, Y2K, I knew that not only was the world not "doomed" and that the caviar to follow would be delicious, but even more importantly, I was a Y2K Survivor! Hence my screen name: y2ksrvivr.

[MagnumWino]

I am a wino, a home-made wino. The vessel of choice in which to put my wines are magnum bottles. Therefore, I am a MagnumWino.

[michele cindy]

I use my first name, and my middle name. I have NO clue what my parents were thinking. My young daughters recently asked if I could change it... There's been many a time I've wanted to change it, but I've been hear so long it wouldn't make sense. Well, maybe it would?

[diablo]

Your name is lovely and unlike any other. Keep it, it's yours.

[michele cindy]

Thank you diablo. If you were able to see me, I'm doing a Hillary tear up right now.

[Davwud]

Besides, I'm sure there are a lot of us who'd change their names if they could. Come up with something wittier.
I'd use Hal LePino if I could.

DT

[luckyfatima]

I am Fatima and I like the Lucky Kitty or Maneki Neko in Japanese, you know that cute kitty that attracts good fortune! So I made myself luckyfatima.

[garfish]

When my dad died, my Mom decided to send me down South to spend my Summers with my GrandFolks to have a male influince.
My Grandfather and I spent a lot of time in a 11' johnboat

when a big gar surfaced it always made a big impression on me

[diablo]

Wow. I just googled a picture. That is some kind of freaky lookin' fish!

[Veggo]

diablo, if you could see a gar in real time, 4 feet long, jaws and teeth that look like they could crush a Mini-Cooper, you would never let your children swim in that lake again. I'm thinking of the Sam Rayburn reservoir, in SE Texas. I still shudder.

[Eat_Nopal]

I thought they were extinct in the Southwest? Gar is a regional delicacy in Tabasco... quite tasty I might add... Veggo I am sure I don't need to convince you.. but it seems to me that pre-historic looking fish are the tastiest of all.

[JustJodi]

I got terribly creative and went with.. get this... my own name!!! Ok, pathetic really! LOL I'm just Jodi, hence the name.

[PrettyPlaty]

I was nicknamed Platypus when I was very young however, for just about every site (including this one) the name Platypus is always taken. I've also always wanted to create a Sanrio character (i.e. Hello Kitty) and since most people shorten Platypus to Platy in referring to me, I use PrettyPlaty because it sounds like something a character would be named!

[rockpile]

The name "Stone" is part of my last name. My wife was a nursery school teacher who married me during the winter break. When she returned to school, she told all of the children what her new name was. Apparently, one of the 4 year-olds quickly forgot, but knew that my wife's name had something to do with rocks. So the next time he needed my wife, he called her "Mrs. Rockpile". We've always laughed about that incident; I wonder where that kid is now!

[Sra. Swanky]

Out of the mouths of babes! :) Very sweet story!

[bigbob]

It was an easy pick..... Because I am :)

[emerilcantcook]

I occasionally hate my screen name. It is juvenilistic, and it borderlines harassment. Poor Emeril! But once upon a time, pre Sandra Lee days, and definitely pre Chowhound-Zenet days, I thought Emeril was the worst thing that could happen to Food Network and signed a post using the moniker. It somehow stuck and I continued signing posts with it. Emeril is still annoying, but I am reconsidering his ability to cook. Now that I invested on the screen name, I cannot fathom to change it. Perhaps, I can start over, but oh well...

[JMF]

You know... he is a nice guy. I met him several times.

[moh]

Well, it's still an interesting name! And easy to remember.

I'm so sad. i am a bit of an internet newbie, and so when the screen name thing came up, I just chose some letters from my name. Very boring. And as noted above, once you change your name, you lose everything from before. Very jealous of names like "Hungry Pangolin", you must google the picture of one, it is so cute! My only consolation is that I am in Montreal, and Hungry Pangolin is stuck in Toronto.... ;)

(gotta make up for that jab at our fair city!!! But in all seriousness, i am plotting a trip to Evil TO, and am looking forward to munching my way through the suggestions on the Ontario Board...)

[jennywinker]

I had somewhat the same experience as a newbie, leaving me with a handle that is neither clever nor interesting. Oops! I didn't know that screen name was going to stick. Yes, my real name, but pronounced allasoneword and alllowercase. Some former roommates and I got into the habit of calling each other by both first and last names, and that just sort of stuck as my identity. I got married but still couldn't give it up. Although I recently watched Pride and Prejudice and think we should all go back to using proper names to address each other: Ms. Kitten, Ms. Queen, Mister Jfood.

[casalbore spirit]

I feel the spirit of Casalbore,the town in Italy that my mother is descended from and my grandparents came from.Thus my devotion to Italian cuisine.

[JMF]

My current one is very boring. Just my initials. JMF

But my former name on Chowhound was The Rogue, because I was a bit of a loose canon... in real life, as well as on CH. I was a really angry psychologist who loved cooking but was stuck listening to peoples problems every day. This became even worse after 9/11 when I was counseling rescue workers and the morgue crew. After having countless posts deleted and being warned numerous times by Jim and another moderator that I was going to be banned, I decided to mellow out a bit and assume a new identity.

l did the same in real life at about the same time, first I attended the French Culinary Institute at night, then quit my job and moved onto an artisanal, grass fed, raw milk dairy farm where I worked as an assistant cheesemaker. Then after a few months I had a run in with an angry cow. After which I spent seven months of surgery and 18 months of physical therapy recovering from having both shoulders, knees, elbows, and left hand rebuilt in the body shop. That will definately mellow you out.

It was one of the best, worst things that ever happened to me. It led directly to me getting paid to travel around the world, studying at culinary schools on five continents, becoming a food and travel writer, food consultant, moving from NYC suburbs to beautiful coastal Maine, and now owner of an artisanal distillery & brewery, and partner in a winery. My avatar is one of the stills I ordered for the distillery.

Now instead of me writing an article about someone, I'm getting calls to be interviewed and asked my opinion by major newspapers and magazines, and the local NBC affiliate wants to do a show on me and my distillery.

It's interesting how my mellowing out led to much more excitment and fun in my life.

[LindaWhit]

Wow, JMF! Just wow - that's one helluva life so far!

[diablo]

My sentiments exactly Linda upon reading that post!

[alkapal]

seriously, jmf! glad you are having a more exciting life with FUN! God bless you!

[hungry_pangolin]

Hey, JMF, great story! If you'll allow me to share, we've had a similar trajectory, though mine is less dramatic. I was in institutional finance, in a rather high-pressured (the trading-day clock) and ultimately thankless position. My blood pressure was through the roof, I was angry, and I was drinking too much - on the road to becoming a right bastard. A vacation (South Africa), a film, and a dance performance led me to resign. After that, a short stint in a Buddhist monastery. I went back to work for my old bank on an occasional basis, wrote freelance finance, lit crit, and food & wine. Haven't worked for the bank in a year and a half (I expect that I never will again). Funny how life works... a penguin encounter was one one of the things that led me to this much happier place.

Cheers!

[JMF]

HP Great story too... Penguins are powerful creatures. A friend of mine is one of the top penguin experts in the world. She took me to see penguins in South Africa and they are so cool. They are curious and fun and perplexing. I was flying the rest of the day after interacting with them.

[Cookiefiend]

Marvelous!

[chowser]

I love this story. And, I like that you still are (or seem to be) a nonconformist, despite mellowing out.

[Fiona]

JMF - When I was an angry, stressed out environmental consultant and single mom of two daughters (read as exhausted, traveling all the time, never feeling like I was doing anything well) I looked forward to your posts as the Rogue as entertaining and glamorous. I am now retired (sort of) and poor but mellow (except for the worries of the poor part). I now have time to cook and, I hope, do some good in the world. My part time job is tutoring foreign students in English and we spend a LOT of time talking about food! As I rarely have the funds to eat at the restaurants that I prefer I rarely post but lurk every day.
I am very glad that you found such a good life for yourself! I am also glad to hear that you are still out there!
By the way, my boring name, fiona, is what my Mom wanted to name me. My Irish Dad won out and I was actually named for my Grandmother.

[2m8ohed]

2m8ohed = "Tomato Head."
I earned this nickname back in college when it became obvious that I, like many other Asians, have an inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 enzyme. In other words, my face turns bright red like a tomato after only one drink.
These days, I don't drink much but I do like tomatoes (which I didn't like back then).

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Oh! One of my favorite Shonen Knife songs suddenly makes MUCH more sense to me now! Thank you!

[smalt]

Love that! Might have to borrow that for a 'puter password one of these days as it gets challenging to come up with the letter/number/mixed case combinations to fullfill password requirements!

[Tehama]

Thanks, Diablo for starting this discussion.... I have read every word of it and have been thoroughly delighted (SoupKitten... love your contribution!) Shortly before joining Chowhound, I had the privilege to play golf at Tehàma in Carmel, CA (Clint Eastwood's golf course venture). I'll never forget that experience. I have changed my avatar several times... currently it is my chow"kitten".

[pearlD]

Mine is very simple....it is my name and it's on my License plate! Unfortunately after I got the plate I realized what everyone was seeing!
Pearl D and underneath "yours to discover" which is the provincial motto for Ontario ! Oh well... to compound matters I now drive a BRILLIANT yellow car (easy to find in a parking lot) but I have problems 'sneaking' around Toronto.

[ambrose]

Great thread! While my screen name may seem pretty straightforward, there is actually a story behind it. No, I did not take the name of Mr. Monk's smarter brother but rather chose it from a very odd novelty "song" called 'Ambrose, Part V'. This song was recorded by Linda Laurie in the late '50s and it's mainly a monologue by a girl walking through a subway with (I think) her boyfriend, Ambrose. Every once in a while Ambrose responds with the words, 'just keep walkin'.

If you remember the song, or even if you don't, you can listen to it at the following link. Just click on 'download MP3' at the end of the second paragraph. You'll understand why I say it's odd!

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/05...

[meatn3]

That is a very odd song! Thanks - I had never come across it before! Now every time I see your "name" it will be going through my head...

[Tehama]

That song was quite odd, but parts of it had me rolling with laughter. Thanks so much for the link!

[Allstonian]

That's so funny! I was actually familiar with that old novelty record, and certainly thought of it whenever I saw your screen name, but I don't think I would have guessed that you were, in fact, referencing it.

[wearybashful]

I remember feeling outraged when I learned that my first name, derived from Leah, means "weary". Doesn't every other name mean something at least neutral, if not wonderful? The "bashful" part is also a meaning from my last name. That part is actually true, though. (So is the weary part, sometimes.)

[hungry_pangolin]

Years ago I was in South Africa, and early one morning, on a game drive, we saw a pangolin (similar to an armadillo; a shy, nocturnal creature), and the guide was unbelievably excited. Lions, elephants, cheetas, yeah, whatever... but a PANGOLIN!!! Apparently, you can spend years on the bushveld and never see one. Why was the pangolin out in the morning, I asked. He must be hungry, was the response. So, I, a shy, nocturnal creature, who is often hungry, usually spotted out and about foraging, am hungry_pangolin.

[moh]

Ahh haa! Great story! I'll have to google up a picture of this wee beastie!

That is such a great story, I'll even forgive you for your attempt to inflame and antagonize the great food city of Montreal on the following thread :)

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/471532

I suspect this hungry pangolin is not as shy as he/she claims...

[hungry_pangolin]

Actually, moh, I noticed that no one took the bait on that thread. I appreciate your forgiveness, nonetheless. (Male pangolin, BTW.)

[moh]

I goggled a picture of a Pangolin. Way cool! They are very cute, and I am so impressed you got to see one live and in the wild! I can see why the guide was so excited...

Very cool name!

[Allstonian]

When I was a kid my mom worked at the local children's zoo, so I grew up familiar with all sorts of odd exotic animals, some of which briefly boarded at our house before that section of the larger zoo opened. (BarmyFotheringayPhipps remains highly amused at the casual way that I explained to him that the reason there is a panel cut out of the door of the closet in the room that is now his office - the hole used to be filled with wire mesh - was that that was where we kept the gibbons.) We didn't have a pangolin at the house, but there was one at the zoo, and her stock description of it was that it looked like an animated pine cone.

Some species of pangolins have prehensile tails, just to add to the coolness. (Well, it's probably more "just to keep them from falling out of trees," but it does add to their coolness in my mind.)

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Actually, what I'd asked was why there was a hook and eye latch on the inside of the closet door: what amused me was that when I asked both Allstonian AND her mother -- separately -- about that, they both said, in exactly the same tone of voice, "Well, that was where we kept the gibbons..."

It turned out that the latch was there because Allstonian's dad, a photographer, used to lock himself in that closet so he could roll reels of 35mm film into individual cartridges without exposing it. Now, it's mostly where the cats hang out while I'm working.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Brought home a huge wooden scupltured pangolin antique from Zimbabwe and a little bitty wooden one from Namibia, love the creature, great handle

[soapgypsy]

I am a soapmaker and travel around the country with my DP selling our handcrafted wares 10 months out of the year, hence the gyspy part! When we make it home for a brief spell, it feels like a vacation!!!!

[MrBigTime]

because I am big time.

Mr. BT

[UES Mayor]

I live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and eat out every meal so I become recognized often during my excursions out in nabe-thus UES Mayor.

[Sam Fujisaka]

I'm curious about your eating out every meal. Why? Do you go to different places? Isn't it really expensive? Why don't you cook? Part of my curiosity is because I do about the opposite: cook almost exclusively when I'm not travelling. Here in Cali, Colombia, there are few restaurants I consider good; and when I travel I often have to eat out too much.

[UES Mayor]

I frequent many places the same time especially if I find the cuisine superb. Won't give a bad meal another chance. Expensive-well that depends if you have the money which I feel I do. I actually am a very good cook but it all started on 9/11 when I vowed to support the local restaurants for 1 year post 9/11-but as you see it has become a way of living. I also find that I am able to control my weight much better as the places I frequent serve high quality foods in small sensible portions.

[Dax]

I, Diogenes Alejandro Xenos, am a Latin-American, playboy diplomat of sorts. Don't tell anyone. Dax keeps me covert.

[Rubee]

OMG Dax. I just read this thread, you're hysterical. I just spit my water out all over my work desk.

[TampaAurora]

Sort of a Don Juan De Marco?

[DockPotato]

I augment a modest CPP with loads of unpaid undertime in our small shop while I chase the perfect fresh-water Trout and Pacific Salmon - or any other delectable passing by.

For most hours, most days, most of the year, I am a constant feature in one of these webcams. My moniker reference should be obvious.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=weather_cams&placecode=caon0345&pagecontent=weather_cams&camregion=canada&camera=CMON0013

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/inde...

[jayt90]

In my early internet days (20th century!) I soon learned I couldn't register my real first name, or even first and last, without some bizarre adaptation which I might forget. So I tried jay, plus t90, which was a favored SLR before I went dSLR, and it worked, so I stayed with it.
My avatar is Simba, a true chowhound. I didn't name her, but her name indicates her age, and she is old enough now not to be bothered responding unless there is some real chow.

[Spiritchaser]

Suffice it to say I'm not talking about ghosts

[dream_of_giusti]

First of all, I started laughing so hard after reading about Captain Pissgums that my coworkers wanted to know what was so funny.

My name is derived from my hellish experience cooking in a restaurant in Philly. Although the environment was crazy, the food was better than anything I'd had in my life. One day the Exec. Chef broke out this $300 bottle of balsamic vinegar, he sprinkled it on a bed of spring mix and changed my life! Every year I ask my family for a bottle of this balsamic vinegar and they laugh at me. Being a broke college student one of my goals is the day when I make enough money to pay $300 for a condiment and not break a sweat. (Some girls love Manolos, I covet food!)

When I found my home in Chow-land, what else could my name be that would represent the fact that I live to eat.

[filth]

That's classified.

[currymouth]

I picked my screen name after a term used in Trinidad, to discribe some one who as I under stood it, could not eat enough Indian food or overstayed his welcome on the buffett line at Indian weddings. Which were known to last several days

[oakjoan]

currymouth: Great moniker!

We have a friend who loves buffet restos. He is rail-thin but eats like a 7 foot tall linebacker. Once he was in an all-you-can-eat place and, when he went back for his 4th helping, was told by the owner that he couldn't have any more.

Friend says "Hey! It's 'all you can eat'!"

The owner says, "Yes is is....and that's all you can eat!"

[alkapal]

oakjoan, that's a great story. love your COTM posts, too.

[pluffmud]

Pluff mud is a lowcountry term to describe the dark soft soil in the marshes. It assisted the lowcountry (coastal areas from Savannah to Charleston) in making rice our cash crop in the 17-1800's. Pluff mud typically has a distinct odor that could disgust anyone from "outside" the lowcountry.

For those of us lucky enough to be born in this area or spend much time here, the smell reminds us of a nice hot summer day on the water. The smell reminds me of my childhood and could not think of a better name, however there is another 'hounder who is "plufmud" and I did not know this before I chose my name. Sorry if it confuses y'all or if I stole your thunder plufmud!

[meatn3]

Diablo, Thank you for starting this thread. I have really enjoyed the exchanges. The stories are great & helps flesh us out, so to speak. A truly inspired idea!

[diablo]

Thanks, meatn3. I am enjoying it immensely myself :)

[Sam Fujisaka]

I go by my real name. Here's why: decades ago I very briefly had a band and did the arrangements for Captain Pissgums and the Gay Cowboys. It got a little tedious after awhile having poeple call me "Captain" or "Captain Pissgums" or having people think I was a gay cowboy.

[danhole]

On no Sam! From now on I will always read your posts and giggle thinking about addressing you as Captain Pissgums! Now, I have to ask - what kind of music did the band play?

Sam, a gay cowboy! ROFLMAO! So wonderfully absurd! Only you would fess up to this!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Cowboy string band, with a proportion of the songs (re-) arranged along the lines of the name of the band. Just imagine some of the stuff Roy Rogers sang like "Don't Fence me in" or Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" .

[Sra. Swanky]

That's a riot! Sam - I'd love to see the re-arranged lyrics of these!

[Veggo]

Sam , I enjoy your friendship, but I think this revelation reverses our Oscar-Felix roles. "Linguini? Now it's garbage!" But keep cooking.

[SweetPea]

And the name game winner is.......... Sam! That is hilarious.

[Gio]

Now that I really find hard to believe, Cap....er... I mean Sam. OTOH: Science, music and cooking have similar methodology. What instrument did you play when you weren't arranging?

[Sam Fujisaka]

Mandolin...what else would a CHer play?

[alkapal]

too funny, sam f!

or perhaps la chitarra?

[Eat_Nopal]

=)

[Gio]

HAH...Bravo! I just couldn't see you with a 12 string banjo for some reason.

[moh]

That is even better than my now-number-2-all-time favorite name for a band:

Joe Puke and the Chunky Bits (Winnipeg band from the 1980's. We would point out the band members at parties and go "he's a Chunky Bit"....

[alex8alot]

omg, that is seriously hilarious given your job as a scientist, and life as a devoted father who labors over batches of soups. I can't stop laughing!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Thank you so much!!

[Scirocco]

I picked mine because it is the car my husband races as a hobby and it's a name that's never already taken! of course no one can spell it either......... :-)

[CindyJ]

Okay, okay, so I COULD have been more creative, and maybe I SHOULD have been more creative, but I just didn't give it a whole lot of thought when I registered. Mine's obvious, except that "J" is my middle initial.

[nofunlatte]

I picked mine after mine standard order at the campus Starbucks--a No Fun Latte, which is a decaf latte with skim milk and sugar-free vanilla syrup. No caffeine, no fat, no sugar, NO FUN!

Great thread--I've often wondered where people's names come from.

[The Dairy Queen]

I think where I come from that order is considered a waste of time, as in, "One tall waste of time", please. :).

~TDQ

[nofunlatte]

That is hilarious! I must remember to share that with my latte-drinking buddy. The sugar-free syrup is a bit out of the ordinary for me, since I am a firm believer in real, "honest" foods. I don't even use artificial sweetener at home. That said, I do have a fondness for fluffernutters, which absolutely, positively CANNOT be made with natural peanut butter. Go figure!

I love your nom de plume, BTW.

[jennywinker]

Kinda like I call Caffeine-Free Diet Coke: water.

[oakjoan]

Nah, caffeine-free Diet Coke HAS to be water with a terrible tinny aftertaste from fake sugar that nothing will wash away.

My name comes from first name and first part of beloved home town, Oakland, CA, the city with the mostly undeserved baaaad rap. A fab. place to live.

[meatn3]

Yours is one I had wondered about. It always conjures up an image of a Druid female warrior to me! Strong but fair and good, would fit in well with Robin Hood and the gang...

[Shayna Madel]

Something similar to OP--My family had a dog who was 1/2 basset hound (mother) and 1/2 dalmatian (father), when I was a kid/teenager. When she was a puppy, she pretty much looked like a little white ball, with one black ear and huge black spot right near her tail. No other spots until she was several months old. We all thought she was kinda cute. Mom just looked at her and called her "Shayna Madel," a Yiddish expression for "pretty girl" and it stuck. It just sorta popped into my head when I was trying to think of a screen name and I figured "what the heck."

[danhole]

Mine is a combo of my first and last names. My real name is Dani, but lots of people call me Dan, don't know why, but they do! And it is not an abbreviation for Danielle! I find that highly offensive when people assume that! LOL! And I am of an age where I was one of the only female "Danny's" around! Now, it's gotten to be more common, so I guess I am sort of a trendsetter, huh? My avatar is my puppy Chloe Zoe, a chipoo, or choodle or whatever . . .

[LindaWhit]

Same here on the combo of first/last names. I was incredibly unimaginative when I was coming up with my log-on name, but I do love reading about how others came up with their names!

Especially loved the stories surrounding their names from soupkitten and TDQ - and jfood - thanks for the info re: writing in the third person - it actually makes me think a little harder about what you're writing! :-)

[Ima Wurdibitsch]

I've always been curious about your name. My parents knew a couple while I was growing up and the wife had your name (with additional letters at the end of the last name). I'm not sure if it was while we lived in Korea or Texas or possibly even somewhere else but the Linda painted a picture of a little blonde girl on a piece of wood and I believe I still have it. This would have been more than 30 years ago, I suppose.

I would be flabbergasted (and singing the "It's a Small World" song) if you turned out to be the same Linda.

[LindaWhit]

I'm *just* reading this now, Ima, and yes, I have additional letters at the end of my name, but I've never even been in Texas, much less traveled to Korea. I'm Brooklyn-born, New Jersey raised, and now live in the Boston area. And I'm not married. :-)

So there's no need for any flabbergasting or to sing "Small World" ::grin:: - Linda was just a more popular name from the 50s and early 60s, I think.

[swsidejim]

mines boring but geographically relevent.

swside = I live in the SW suburbs of Chicago, had to point that out because I would hate to be confused with a North sider.

jim = my first name of course

[Cookiefiend]

Thanks for asking this diablo - it's fun to read about everyone!

I chose mine because, well... I am a fiend for cookies.
A nut for them.
Can't resist the little things!

:-)

[bubblet4me]

I love bubble tea. But I currently live in a city with only one bubble tea place so now I am trying to learn how to make it.

[RebJaeBoe]

My name is a combo mash-up of my first and two (yes two,) last names. My Mom must have wanted to punish me with a long, German, hyphenated name and I always try to find ways around it.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

I assumed it was a Korean noodle dish.

[southernitalian]

Mine is boring. My family is from Southern Italy. I'm second generation born and raised in Brooklyn, NY but living, like half of the NY metropolitan area, in Charlotte, NC. So it's a double entendre. Like I warned, kind of dull. But you asked.

[septocaine_queen]

because I am the all mighty monarch of numbness.

septocaine: my favorite dental anaesthetic to use

[ChefBoyAreMe]

That's a bit deviated, septo.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Mine is simple enough: Barmy Fotheringay Phipps is a character in P.G. Wodehouse's Drones Club stories, "Barmy" being UK slang for "crazy," but in a genial, non-threatening way. Mostly, it's just fun to say. (Incidentally, "Fotheringay" is pronounced "Fungy," one of the eternal mysteries of British English.)

[alkapal]

barmy, your name always cracks me up!

re "fungy", it reminds me of beauchamp place in london pronounced as "beach-em".

[cayjohan]

Barmy, is it a hard "gee" or soft in the pronunciation?

And yes, isn't Brit English grand? Think: How would one spell something ponounced "Chumley?"

Cay

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Hard G. Think of an entertaining Indian clarified butter: "fun ghee."

My all-time favorite has to be Featherstonehaugh, pronounced "fanshaw."

[misohungrychewlow]

"Chumley" = Charmondalay.

[Allstonian]

Actually, "Chumley" = Cholmondeley.

[cayjohan]

Yep, you hit it! - hilarious, isn't it And not in a bad way. I do love the vagaries of pronunciation.

I think that's another issue of the Chowhound "handles": how do we pronounce the written text (of the handles) in our heads. I know I've rolled quite a few around the ol' cranium until I settled on something that seemed more-or-less right for me. Might be a mile off still, but...

An oddly interestintg thread, this - "team-building" might be the corporate word for it, but I prefer to detour from that reality and say it's more of a "hello, neighbor! what's your name?" sort of thing.

Hey neighbors,
Cay

[cassoulady]

wow, this may sound silly barmy but I thought that was your real name, and always thought you must be a very important person with such a fancy name.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Hee! Actually, my real full name is exceedingly bank-presidenty, and sounds as if it should have a number behind it. That's always amused me just because it's so not me.

[Enorah]

Enorah is the name I remember being called in a past life (for real).

I have used it for years in other places on-line.

[mrsfury]

I'm kinda new here so you may not know me yet. My screen name is my name and my avatar is me and my hubby fishing here in south Louisiana. I love this thread. There are some creative people here.

[alkapal]

mrsfury, welcome!

i look forward (along with many others) to your future posts on louisiana cooking! come see us over on the home cooking threads! ;-)

[chinkymonkey]

I'm of Asian descent, and I'm hyperactive like a monkey. Derogatory slang doesn't offend me, I find it humorous, if not taken seriously.

[HungryRubia]

Great topic! The first part of mine is pretty obvious....I am always hungry. The second part, Rubia is Spanish for blond or blondie. I was born with platinum blond hair, which in Dominican Republic tends to be kind of rare, and so I attracted lots of attention when I was a baby. Everyone back home in DR calls me Rubia and my mother is Negra (she is dark with black hair) so I chose that. And my avatar is me stuffing my face at 4am after coming out of a club in DR.

[pilotgirl210]

I'm a third-generation pilot in my family. Grandpa was a barnstormer, my dad was a 30-year Marine Corps pilot who fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam (1938-1968) and my son, one of the first Marines into downtown Baghdad in March 2003, got his private pilot license, multi-engine and instrument ratings last summer at Boeing Field, making him a fourth-generation *flyboy*. The 210 in my name stands for the plane I have the most hours in.......the Cessna 210.......a six-seater that flies like the wind!

[cayjohan]

I have to ask the genesis of the names of two of my regional favorites: The Dairy Queen (aka TDQ) and soupkitten.

So curious,
Cay

[soupkitten]

hello Cay! you are one of my regional faves too!

i'm irrationally terrified about accidentally "outing" myself on chowhound & getting a bunch of crap from the restaurant community in msp (little village that we are), so i have to be a little oblique w my answer ;) -- and long-winded, sorry & everybody feel free to skip, please

i cook professionally and can & do cook everything; but at different times i've made soup for a living or as "the main thing, the main product," so consequentially whenever soup is getting made around here, it's me doing it (cuz it has to be *good*). i don't make as much soup as i used to, today i'm just making 3 gallons, but when i was cranking out huge batches of fifteen kinds of soup each week, with stock and bases all handmade from scratch, my *life* revolved around making soup, chopping cases & cases of veg, the time blocks necessary for large volumes of liquid to boil and simmer, etc. invariably whenever a family member or friend would call and ask what i was doing, i'd reply "making soup", when making plans for a family wedding , i'd have to plan around when i'd make soup. i'd have to cancel plans because an especially large soup order would come in and good soup is time consuming & can't be rushed, so a few people got irked that "they took a backseat to soup"-- i think that maybe they would have understood "taking a backseat to pies, or truffles" though! one day a friend had a freudian slip when he asked "how are things going in the soupkitten?" (meant to say kitchen, obviously) and dh and i thought it was funny, i just plonked it out when i chose my screen name a few days later. i thought i was going to post just a couple of times on our local boards, but it wasn't to be, & i've now adopted the alter-ego of soupkitten & couldn't be happier.

here's how that happened: if you ask me what i was doing, say, when the 35W bridge fell down less than a mile from me, i was making soup. when the iraq war started. i was making soup. one thursday i was making a large batch of chicken wild rice soup, and the mirepoix was happily sizzling and the carrots were the glistening fluorescent orange that says "add the stock now, NOW, i'm ready, baby!" and the phone rang-- my dad had suddenly and unexpectedly died, (he was only 65 and in good health) and here i was as usual making soup. it seemed that not only were huge chunks of my life being consumed by my job as a chef, huge chunks of my life were being consumed by this one thing: soup. stuck in a hot kitchen w no windows 12 hrs/day getting bent out of shape because someone's food wasn't perfect, or the prep didn't get done right, or the farm that was supposed to grown all our lettuce got flooded and nobody has any lettuce. not to be a complete *downer*, but i was pretty crushed and very depressed about the situation, especially since i had to go on making soup a couple days later, nobody else knew how to do it!!! i had to make soup on the day of his funeral, taking a couple hours off to shower & attend. i was like a zombie for months and didn't like talking to people. so to take my mind off things, while waiting for stock to boil and between chopping batches of veggies, i started posting on chowhound about silly, "unimportant" food things that i knew about, like pancakes and cheese and new restaurants. it beat talking to the people close to me about serious things. gradually i got my groove back, thanks to my "friends" on chowhound who talked about these silly things with me. here i am still.

thanks everybody, really, really, thanks. i don't *have* the time to sit on my butt and post to chowhound anymore but i do anyway because soupkitten loves you, for real.

ahh-- sorry to get personal & maudlin! luckily my co-workers already know i'm nuts and don't think it's weird to see me typing and crying simultaneously!

i would like to hear about TDQ too-- it's funny: when dh and i are talking about restaurants we haven't been to, going back and forth with what we've heard from chefs, customers, random people, 9/10 times when dh is leaning one way or the other, he questions me about what our little chowhound MSP group thinks, and i'll be like "so-and-so said this and so-and-so said that--" and he'll pause, and then he'll ask "what does The Dairy Queen think?" and TDQ's opinion is *always* the deal maker/breaker! TDQ, you are famous! :)

[chowser]

That's a great story. I'm sorry to hear about your dad. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you're still here, despite not having time. A lot of us can relate to that.

[shaebones]

LOVE that story soupkitten. Thanks for sharing it w us.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Awesome!!!

Just by coincidence, I sat down to read this between steps in making two large soups--carrot, a staple for my four-year old daughter and lentil with dried kudu meat.

[danhole]

Soupkitten - you are great! Thanks for sharing! And, yes, I read it all!

[Sra. Swanky]

I echo 'em all, soupkitten! Thanks so much for sharing!

[jfood]

"A"-Lister Ms Kitten

[diablo]

Thank you, soupkitten. That was a beautiful post...

[Gio]

What a wonderful read that was soupkitten. A million blessings to you!

[The Dairy Queen]

Wow, soupkitten, thank you for sharing your very sweet, very touching story...and your kind words. I honestly believe that chowhound is a community--I have "met" so many wonderful people here, and I look forward to "seeing" them--even the ones I haven't actually met!

As for my story--well, I can't even take credit for it--that goes to son-of-yimster. Back when I was only lurking (way too intimidated to post!) a chowhound friend of mine invited me to a taco crawl/chowdown in Redwood City, CA. I don't remember how many of us there were--easily twenty of us--and, as we wandered down the street, meandering from taco truck to taqueria to Mexican grocery, more 'hounds kept joining the pack. I remember this impossible, comical moment when we crammed ourselves into this teensy torta shop--I think they had 4 tables--and ordered a bunch of tortas that we sliced up with plastic knives and passed around so that everyone could get a taste. People were spilling out the doorway and onto the sidewalk with their torta samples. It was kind of a magical memory for me of chowhounding.

Introductions were nearly impossible, and trying to remember everyone's names--both their "real" ones and their screennames--well, nearly impossible. At some point, we encountered a Dairy Queen. For you Midwesterners, this may not seem like a big deal, but it's the only Dairy Queen I'd ever seen in the San Francisco Bay Area. And, apparently, my gushing enthusiam made an impression on yimster's son, who called me "Hey, Dairy Queen!" for the rest of the afternoon.

The next day, when it came time to post our impressions on the "chowdown" and I had to come up with a handle, well, my choice was obvious. :).

As a fan of the Minnesota State Fair, I wish I could tell you I had once been a Princess Kay of the Milky Way, with my-tiara adorned self memorialized in a block of butter. But it ain't so.

~TDQ

[Sra. Swanky]

Love it! Great story behind your TDQ-ness! :) (and I wish we had a DQ near me - love those Blizzards!)

[soupkitten]

cool story TDQ! it's great that you ended up here in MSP & we're lucky to have you. i admit that in my over-active imagination i thought that "The Dairy Queen" might be a regional honorific: "she who knows scads about the foodways of the northern heartland. . ."

[cayjohan]

Thanks, TDQ - I knew you were from "away" (ref, MSP area), so I always wondered if the Dairy appellation was affected to fit in with MN predilections. I like your story so.

And thank you for all the great restaurant recs! Given them, maybe you should be the Hot Pepper Queen! :-)

Best, Cay

[Shayna Madel]

Your story is really beautiful. It makes such perfect sense. Glad you found a place to help you through the tough times and make you smile at others. And finally a topic where such a story won't be deleted for being, well...off-topic!

[chocchipcookie]

Thanks soupkitten for sharing. Your opinion is definately worth a lot of salt in my kitchen!

[goodhealthgourmet]

kitten, that's such a lovely story. my deepest condolences on your dad's passing, and i'm just glad you were able to find solace among your fellow hounds. it's stories like yours that i love to share with the people in my life who don't understand why i love CH so much...once they read these things, they don't think i'm quite so crazy :)

sort of OT, but since you're a soup expert i have to ask...do you have a favorite recipe?

[soupkitten]

thanks for everybody's support. means a lot that the hounds everywhere care, whether we're at each other's throats on the tipping threads or not! ;)

Goodhealthgourmet: i put a maple-squash soup recipe on this excellent thread (i am one of the very end posts): http://www.chowhound.com/topics/457204

-- i called for butternut squash but actually prefer it made with kabocha, buttercup, sweetmeat, other local sweet orange-fleshed squashes, or a mix of them. the optional toasted pecan gremolata makes it dinner-party worthy. if you don't have maple sugar you can sub regular brown sugar in the gremolata with no serious ill effects.
some of my recipes are still "secret-ish," and some i have never bothered to write down, but i'm sure i'll post some others eventually, i'd like to share some of them.

[goodhealthgourmet]

thanks, it sounds wonderful...and i'm always looking for excuses to use the maple sugar i keep in the cabinet!

btw, i didn't mean to put you on the spot regarding your proprietary recipes...i'm in the process of launching a food business myself, and it's always tricky when people try my products and then beg me for the recipes. i recently had a woman use her adorable little daughter to try and guilt me into revealing the formula for my gluten-free vegan pumpkin-maple muffins. it would have been funny, but the woman was really nasty when i explained that i just couldn't give it to her.

some people :)

anyway, thanks for sharing - i'll look forward to trying your recipe the next time i'm in the mood, although it might be a while - it's in the 70's again here in southern cali - not exactly soup weather!

[soupkitten]

oh it's okay, i have some recipes to keep & some to share-- but another problem is that the quantities are mostly 3.5 to 5 gals plus-- not too helpful to the avg. chowhounder!

[cayjohan]

Yay, Soup! Thanks for the back story, and fondest thoughts to you (and condolences).
I agree that soup seems to invade our lives, and at wierd times (Your story brings back many such experiences.) More prosaic a soup-bit: my Hub can forget anything and everything, but I can prompt his memory with a statement along the lines of: "You know, the couple that was here when I made a pear-parsnip-thyme soup?" Memory clicks in, then. Soup seems to be a mnemonic device at times.

Soup as a food is marvelous. "Soup" as a mindset is even more so. Thanks so for sharing your name.

Just enjoyed last night's split-pea with ham. Long live soup suppers!

Best,
Cay

[soupkitten]

:)

[karykat]

I've had a similar experience. I've often shared with my SO what some of the local hounds think about different places to go for food and The Dairy Queen often comes up. One time I was saying, "She said that . . . " and he asked me, "How do you know The Dairy Queen is a 'she'" And I had to admit that I didn't and that I had just made an assumption.

I've come to learn somehow from subsequent posts of TDQ that she is indeed a she.

[cayjohan]

Late to this party, as usual. My name is what it is, although my Hub calls and writes to me as "K." Won't give you my "real" real name, but it's close. easier to remember that way. Have been Cay (that spelling) for more than 35 years. Things stick, I guess.

Cay

[diablo]

This is so cool! I recognize pretty much every single poster who has replied so far. Thanks! It has been great reading :) Keep em comin'.......

[SweetPea]

Mine's just a nickname. I do love peas. Husband calls me that or just "pea" rather than the honey or sweetie or darlin' things. If he says my real name I think I'm in trouble.

[danhole]

Your name always makes me giggle because of a funny story from our family. It goes like this: Daughter had a beloved siamese cat named Sweetpea. He died while she was at work and her BF didn't want her to see him like that, so he buried him in the backyard before she got home. He very thoughtfully got out some paint and put his name on a board as a marker. When she got home there was her beloved cat "Sweatpea" in the backyard. Funny and tragic all at once. Now every time any of us hears Sweetpea, we giggle. BTW - BF is gone - not very bright!

[Sra. Swanky]

About 5 years ago, my husband and I were on our first date. We spotted a Tex-Mex restaurant called, "Señor Swanky's Tequila Grill and Celebrity Hangout!" I laughed and kept calling my future hubby, "Señor Swanky" and the name stuck! 2 years later, right after our wedding ceremony on the ride over to the reception, Hubby says, "Well, Señora Swanky - we did it!" :o)

That's it! That's all I've got! ;o)

[Sam Fujisaka]

Sra Swanky, that is a wonderful tale. All the best in a long, happy marriage. But one question: did the two of you ever go have a meal at Señor Swanky's Tequila Grill and Celebrity Hangout?

[Sra. Swanky]

Thanks so much, Sam. :o)You know - we never did have a meal at Señor Swanky's! It'd be great to see if the place is still there!

[alkapal]

sra. swanky: love it! funny story, esp. the "celebrity hangout" part. and the word "swanky." LOL!

[Sra. Swanky]

Thanks! If only I had my camera phone back then, I would've taken pics of the place! Never did see a celebrity though! ;o)

[goodhealthgourmet]

wow, i haven't thought of señor swanky's for years! i used to pass the bleecker street location all the time when i lived in the village. was it that one, or the one on the uws?

either way, i think you should have dinner there to celebrate your next anniversary :)

[Sra. Swanky]

Yup! The one on Bleecker St. was the one!! Hope it's still there. They should still be in business for the name alone! And good call on the next anniversary dinner!! Great idea!! :o)

[goodhealthgourmet]

they're still in business...

http://www.senorswankys.com/default.a...

[gloriousfood]

I used to work near that restaurant and would pass it every day. I always laughed whenever I saw the name and have wondered if your screen name was related to the resturant. Now I know, thanks!

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

There is a sushi restaurant my friends and I favor in Brookline, MA. Once when we were introducing some friends to it, one of them said "Mr. Sushi? I'm not sure I quite trust a place called Mr. Sushi." To which her husband replied "I don't have a problem with a restaurant called Mr. Sushi. [beat] Now, SENOR Sushi..." To this day, this restaurant is known to us all as Senor Sushi, and I actually briefly considered that for my screen name here.

[Eat_Nopal]

Too funny... there is a small chain of casual Sushi places in Mexico City called Senor Sushi.... very decent stuff... a notch above "gourmet" supermarkets like Whole Foods.

[fruglescot]

Mine is pretty self explanatory. I'm a tight fisted Scot who loves a bargain.
The spelling was altered as on another site the ( FRUGALSCOT) nomenclature had already been taken.

[Mothership]

I have 2 high maintenance daughters - very high maintenance. I have one incredibly intelligent husband - successful, brilliant in what he does - yet incapable of changing a toilet paper roll. I have dogs - one on purpose, one that was supposed to be for my daughter, one here alot because my older daughter spends a great deal of time with me and another that comes home from college with my younger daughter. The common thread is that they all come to me for EVERYTHING. I feed them all and they all have very different culinary tastes. Don't get me wrong - I they are all great and I love them very much, but I am definitely the mothership - the person they all depend on for everything. No complaints. So, Mothership seemed appropriate.

[jfood]

Let's add jfood to the boring list. He would say the dog came up with it but that would be unfair, since she would have picked something much more interesting. But sitting early one Saturday morning he took the first letter of his first name and added "food". Anonymity is important to jfood so that is the reason for the absolutley silly self-assessment.

And the third person was a lark early on when the dog was staring at him while he was writing something and it sorta took a life of its own. And it is not easy to keep the brain going from real memo's and e-mails in real English into this shtick.

[soypower]

soypower has always liked jfood's third-person talk as it seems to lend more credence to what he has to say. as in, there's already one person quoting him. :o)

[chowser]

Plu, the third person leads to a great drinking game where we can all take a shot whenever someone comments about it.;-)

[Davwud]

I'm glad jfood was able to clear that up.

DT

[MysticYoYo]

jfood: not the name I have wondered about the most, but certainly the person!

jfood mentions quite a bit that he travels on business and I confess to have pictured him holding high-powered meetings and referring to himself in the third person!

I always enjoy your posts, jfood!

[chocchipcookie]

LOL MysticYoYo, "Triple C" has the same impression. Triple C enjoys jfoods posts and abbreviations too. And it is hard referring to oneself in the third person but it is funny!

[jfood]

The term Triple-C is one of endearment from jfood's high school days. His best friends mom used to make the best chocolate chipp cookies and when they arrived in the knapsack, he would whisper in jfood's ear, "triple-c's". no one knew what that meant and the two of them ate them all with a smile and a small carton of milk.

[chocchipcookie]

Too funny! I was the one known for bringing in the best cookies in school-of course my mom made them then. I always think that no matter what cookie it is, SOMEONE ELSES cookies are always the best because they made them and put their own spin on them.

[Davwud]

It's like sandwiches are always better when they're made by someone else.

DT

[filth]

I was initially annoyed with jfood's third person persona but, given the quality of jfood's info and judgement, I like it now and associate it with something interesting to read.

[jayt90]

I was annoyed too, thought it was pretentious, as in Richard Nixon referring to himself as "The President". But after reading a few of jfood's posts, I began to enjoy and look forward to them. By the way jfood is not completely anonymous, as we learn quite a bit about jfood, his travels, and his family!

[Eric in NJ]

I don't know mine just kind of came to me :o)

[janetofreno]

Glad you brought this up, because I have a conundrum to discuss:

I originally chose my name because its my first name and the city I (currently) live in...plus when people met me they would always make jokes about Janet Reno (you know, the former attorney general...) so it fit. Janetofreno had a nice sound to it.

But as some of you know, I am in the midst of a move to Las Vegas. I'll be living there in a couple of weeks. Somehow janetoflasvegas just doesn't have the same ring to it....plus then of course people might not know me. So do I keep the name and be geographically incorrect, or change the name? Hounds' input welcome.....

[Katie Nell]

I think it depends on if your heart is still in Reno or not... like if I moved away someday, I would still think of myself as a Kansas girl.

Katie Nell... first and middle name... not really original, but I don't know any other Katie Nell's so I suppose it is! (And I am NOT a Katherine, Kathryn, etc... just Katie!)

[diablo]

I always recognize your name on the boards when I see it. Since you are a frequent poster, I think you should keep it just for the recognizability (is that a word?) factor. Or if you really feel the need to change it, consider 'janetwhousedtobeofreno'. That would be pretty funny :)

[Davwud]

How about "theposterformerlyknownasjanetofreno"

DT

[tatertotsrock]

That's the best name ever!!!
janetofreno, I would really consider it.
I think we can edit our names, can't we?
All your fans will know it's you.

[The Chowhound Team]

No, it's not possible to edit nametags. A name change means losing your entire posting history, and there's currently no way to associate your new name with your old one.

[Paulustrious]

update avatar set name='spudrocks' where name = 'tatertotsrock'

Not exactly difficult, but I think you are right not to permit the change.

[chowser]

Or, maybe she could just go by a unique avatar and forgo a name altogether...;-)

[rudeboy]

speaking of that, my nickname was originally inspired by Prince in the 80s. Although that's not quite as quaint as Soupkitten's story!

[alkapal]

depends on your opinion of janet reno,,,,

oh wait...."janetrenovated"

[susancinsf]

I vote for this one!

[goodhealthgourmet]

make that 2 votes.

clever, alkie, very clever :)

[meatn3]

Your question made me remember this:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/425071
So, looks like it would require a brand new registration...
You could always just update the location on your profile.
BTW, there are several posters who have names that no longer reflect their current location. In some ways it makes their posts stand out (not in a bad way) on the local boards.

[MMRuth]

I'd keep your current name if I were you.

[JungMann]

I'm in my 20s, speak German, studied clinical psychology and emerged with a neo-Freudian orientation. Normally I'm not this prone to puns, but I couldn't resist.

[chowser]

I thought your name was clever--it caught my eye.

[MissMethuselah]

I am a wine buyer and also a tiny lady, and sometimes it's really amusing to myself and others, how buff I've gotten throwing cases 40hrs plus a week( or to some, shocking that I can do it, boo I say.) ! So I thought the name Miss Methuselah (as in 6L bottle of wine, more than the Biblical figure) was an appropriate illustration of my daily contradiction! And plus, the more wine, the better, right?!

[diablo]

Always, Miss Methuselah, always.

[chocchipcookie]

Mine is the obvious-I love making cookies and choclate chip WERE my favorite until I discovered this website. Now my horizons have been expanded and I could have been called Worldpeacecookie. ;) But, I do love anything chocolate and that was already taken. May you all have a very happy new year!

[monalisawoman]

When I eat really great food, I smile. And when I smile, I look JUST like her :-)

[lrostron]

Mine is a complete mess up .... when I registered with Chowhound, it was supposed to be my long time nickname, SWMBO, but I entered my log in, lrostron (that's who I am), oops. I could change it, but I lose all my posts under lrostron. Oh well.

[KaimukiMan]

have you seen, they have finally uncovered documentation about who mona lisa was

btw: Kaimuki is a great neighborhood in Honolulu (where I happen to live). There are two translations and some disupute about which is correct. Ka = The, Imu = Oven, Ki can mean either the root of the Ti plant (ti leave are used for hula skirts, wrapping the pig for roasting, and all sorts of other cooking uses) or it can mean Queen. Ti root was cooked and eaten in place of taro root in times of famine, it can also be fermented. Most likely Kaimuki = The Ti Oven.

[chazzerking]

Mine was the result of not feeling terribly creative the day I first encountered CH, and so is fairly obvious in its derivation. I can stuff myself with the best of them: ergo, Chazzer. That was taken, so my next uninspired thought was to try adding king( not meant to be reflective of any mindset of superiority) Now, aren't you glad you asked?

[alkapal]

alkapal = "Friend of Alka Seltzer" or alternatively, "Alka Seltzer is My Friend"
thus is my motto, usually after eating down in south Florida, where i grew up,,,,,

now, the mystique is gone, gone, gone.... ;-)

(i once asked Eat Nopal if we were related, because both our names ended in "pal" Can you believe the mods deleted that morsel of wisdom??!?!)

Happy New Year Chow Pals, all! May 2008 find you healthy, wealthy and wise!

BTW, southern foodies, i had to substitute my obligatory greens and black eyed peas on new year's day b/c of the flu. had take-out pakistani chick pea curry served with lettuce and coriander laced yogurt. it'll have to do!

[tatertotsrock]

Happy New Year ALKAPAL!!!
Thanks for telling me about your name! I love it!!
It's funny, I was always in cahrge of the ALKA SELTZER "cocktails" after a huge family holiday...you know, Thanksgiving and Xmas...when all the older folks would wake up they'd say: "be a dear and bring me an alka seltzer cocktail."
We just figured it was because they had an upset tummy... that I'm older, I know it's from all the booze consumed the night before.

[alkapal]

rock on, lover of tater tots! may your ketchup, mayo, sriracha, onion dip, <insert condiment of choice> never fail!

and yes, for those of you wondering.... alka seltzer does taste better in crystal!

[tatertotsrock]

alkapal,
You ROCK!!!
It's all about the Heinz ketchup...old skoool ghetto-style-yumy stuff.
Yum!

[alkapal]

well, in my case, it is necessitated by the sudden increases in food fat intake.

[goodhealthgourmet]

love it...you always had me wondering about that :)

[JungMann]

And here I always thought you were a boozer!

[alkapal]

jungmann,
sorry to disappoint you in your assumption about alka seltzer fans.

should i assume you're egocentric because you're freudian in orientation?
or maybe its just "idiomatic"!
forgive me, its my superego talking to you....

<insert groans here>
happy new year ;-)

[SweetPea]

That's really funny!

[Eat_Nopal]

Ah yes... as I explained in that thread... mine is simple Eat Nopal Cactus! I consider the lack of Nopales dishes North of the Border at the heart of what is wrong with Mexican restaurants in the U.S. I blame it on the collective unconsciousness of 2nd / 3rd generation Mexican-Americans and so my mission is to bring an actual understanding of Mexican cuisine. Long live Nopales, Calabacitas & seasonal/regional specialties down with Sour Cream, runny Guacamole, Rice & Refried Beans!

[bards4]

Of course, that makes sense. My crummy eyesight always made me read your name as "Eat Nopai" -- which I thought was a very hip, groovy way to say "eat no pie". So glad that's cleared up for me.

[HungryRubia]

ROTFL!!!! I love that! Eat No Pie!!! I will never look at Eat_Nopal's name the same way again!

[danhole]

I always thought about alka seltzer when I saw your name! So sorry you didn't get your black eyed peas on New Years. I was recovering form the flu, or whatever the heck it was, but I still made a pot of peas, with lots of salt pork. I started them, fell asleep watching something dumb, and woke up to a frantic husband telling me my peas were cooking (DUH!) Turned out perfect and I ate enough for you as well as me!

[alkapal]

bless you, danhole! may you have enough good health, wealth and wisdom for the both of us! what about your greens?

ps, you had a sixth sense about my screen name!

[danhole]

Alas, in my "not feeling well' state of mind I totally forgot the green and the only "green" food I had on hand (other than whatever that is hiding in the back of the fridge) was broccoli. So I had a few bites of raw broccoli! Hope that counts!

[alkapal]

hey, if my green was scrappy paki takeout iceberg lettuce salad with cilantro yogurt, broccoli is a "thumbs up"! ;-)

[Lightsuprooms]

Mine is... because I have a degree in Lighting for theatre and film.. hence the name I Lights Up Rooms

[Jill Brazil]

I am a Brazil Travel Specialist so a friend of mine used to call me Jill Brazil.
It was either that or Lynn Gweenie!

www.SouthAmericanEscapes.com/blog

[tatertotsrock]

I'm dying to find out about these names:

Suace Supreme

Alkapal

Cucumber Boy

Kitchen Queen

Purple Goddess

Das Ubergeek

Fat Billie

thomtompkins

luswei

steinpilz

I know some may be really easy to figure out..I just read all y'all's posts quite a bit and I would love to know how you came around to your names.

Happy New Year!!!

[susancinsf]

Well, my name is particularly boring, just my real first name, first initial of my last, and where I am....yes, definitely boring.

Didn't think about it much, just picked something easy.

but then I saw Purple Goddess one day on the boards, and was soooo jealous! She stole the screen name I should have been if I had thought about it for half a minute! Purple is my favorite color by far, and well, as for the goddess part....:-)

AND she lives in OZ! (more reason to be jealous of her).

Next time I get down that way I intend to look her up and see what it might take to bribe her out of the name.....

[goodhealthgourmet]

add servorg and withnail to that list for me...

[terrier]

I used to live in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn & started going by 'terrier' instead of changing my username every post. (This was in the pre-CNET days when there was no registration.)

Years later, I coincidentally ended up owning a Boston terrier, whose sleepy head is now my icon.

[misohungrychewlow]

Since you asked ... "misohungry" is a pun-play on one of my favorite lines from a Stanley Kubrick film, Full Metal Jacket, as well as an early rap hit from 2Live Crew -- "Me so horny! ..." Even more so, with miso being a virtual sacrement in some of my favorite sushi bars ... then "chewlow" is a silly foodie pun on "chulo," which I am! El guero guapo!

[Quine]

Mine is my Favorite Philosopher.

[hannaone]

Mine reflects the make up of my family - Korean/American. Hanna is the common GI spelling of the Korean number one.

[notgreg]

In my first kitchen job the sous kept calling me greg (my name is Justin). On about the third day I looked at him and said "Chef, I'm not Greg!", and the name stuck.

[Enorah]

LOL

That is funny, especially if you've worked in a restaurant.

[hungry_pangolin]

I had the same experience at a brokerage I worked at... everyone called me Dave. After weeks of correction, they christened me Steve-not-Dave.

[corgette]

Mine is a corrupted form of my last name and the french word for zucchini (courgette). Paternal name, maternal nod to the french, but mostly I just like how it sounds.

[cocoalover]

I selected my name of "cocoalover" because I love hot cocoa, brownies, chocolate wafer cookies, See's famous old time candy, hot fudge sauce over vanilla ice cream, cocoa added to coffee drinks and some savory sauces...all in all it's so versatile and a one of a kind ingredient.

[linguafood]

Cool thread. I'm sure we'll keep it going -- who doesn't like talking about themselves ;-)

Mine's the name of my business as in www.linguafood.com -- a website for menu translations (mainly German into English). The language of food, I guess. It's the language I dream in, live in, and think in.

[tatertotsrock]

I love that!
I had figured you just liked to eat a lot of lingua stuff...y'a know, burritto, tacos, etc.
You must get a kick out of all the funny chinese food translations that are out there, eh?

[JiyoHappy]

Jiyo means " to live" . Jiyo is also used as a blessing to wish someone a good & long life .
I want to wish everyone on CH a happy life
If kare_raisu is hanging in here, whats your story?

[kare_raisu]

I wondered if someone would ask. :) "KAH-ray rai-su" is how the Japanese pronounce curry rice which is one of the most popular homestyle dishes in Japan. It is also one of my favorite things to eat.

This is an actual picture of me....yeah right!

[JiyoHappy]

curry rice ...yummm
I've actually had japanese style curry rice but could never pronounce it right in japanese , in a single attempt
I luv curry and one of my fav is to explore the various versions of curry ( and curry powder ) in different cultures of the world.
Cool pic , thanx

[Enorah]

Kare raisu that explanation totally cracks me up since you are on this mission with regards to Mexican eateries. I love the Mexican/Japanese convergence.

[kare_raisu]

Its crazy, I know! Its actually a strange story - it was while working at a Japanese restaurant when I became friends with a Oaxacan cook who turned me on to that 'other kind of' Mexican food.

[Leucadian]

So we have an American working in a Japanese kitchen run by a Korean owner with a Mexican chef, who picks a handle which is the English spelling of the Japanese pronunciation of the English name of an Indian-derived dish that's a Japanese specialty. I'm dizzy, but it makes perfect sense, given that you're real name is Tapatio.

I think I'm going to regret posting to this thread, because it's going to live forever. Oh well.

[alkapal]

leucadian: absolutely lucid!

[Lemon Curry]

"Vermont Curry" ; what an odd choice for a brand name

[Veggo]

Right there with "New England Coffee"

[kare_raisu]

What language is Jiyo from?

[JiyoHappy]

Jiyo is Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, that part of the world

[luckyfatima]

hey jiyo, jiyo actually is the command saying "Live" in the familiar form (use with tum)! It is either Coke or Pepsi that has the commercial (in Hindi) that says Piyo aur Jiyo! (Drink and Live!) :-)

[Davwud]

Years ago a buddy hung the nick name Davwud on me.

I have a few other nom de plumes I use from time to time. One is my name on my profile.

Had I to do it all over again, I'd use the name Hal LePino.

DT