Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site reed.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!hplabs!tektronix!reed!purtell From: purtell@reed.UUCP (Lady Godiva) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: "pretend" names and aliases Message-ID: <2837@reed.UUCP> Date: Thu, 20-Mar-86 14:27:40 EST Article-I.D.: reed.2837 Posted: Thu Mar 20 14:27:40 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 22-Mar-86 14:19:54 EST References: <712@osiris.UUCP> <393@unirot.UUCP> Reply-To: purtell@reed.UUCP (Lady Godiva) Distribution: net Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon Lines: 60 Keywords: How Lady Godiva got her name... In article <712@osiris.UUCP> jcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla) writes: > > I am interested in other people's opinions about something that >is pretty common among net people, and that is the use of famous names >from fiction or from D&D campaigns and the like. What brought it to >mind was one instance in particular of a person who uses a character's >name from a famous work of fiction aka where the second >name is also a fictional character. There are also all the Princess >Somebody of Someplace and the Lord SoandSo's. > > I guess the question is, what is the importance, if any, of using >hig-falutin' names ? Is the user in that much need of an ego-boost ? >My reaction would be to assume that the person would seem to be fairly >immature but maybe that's not so. Comments, anyone ? > For some reason, I think I may be included in this description.;-) However, mine is somewhat different in that it's not a name from fiction, or God forbid ;-), a D&D campaign. She was a real person. The reason that I use the name is not that I'm immature. (I may be, that's in the eye of the beholder, but it's not the moving force for my using the name.) The reason is (and several people on the net already know this since I've gotten many letters asking why I call myself that) as follows: When I first started using the computer here I started getting really strange letters via email from this guy in one of my classes. His reason for sending the letters was not exactly pure and untainted. Anyway, these letters centred around him being from another planet and he called himself by a different name which I, sadly, no longer remember. The letters were long, sometimes intricate, stories, and very enjoyable. Being an aspiring writer I of course felt the need to write something at least as interesting and bizarre in return. So I made up an intricate story about how I was born several hundred years ago and was an apprentice to a magician. To make a long story short ("Too late!") I was forced to drink a potion that gave me eternal life, which of course explained why I was still around. After writing all of this I decided that I too needed a different name to sign my letter with. Lady Godiva just popped into my mind. I signed it that, explaining that in all my years she was the person who had been my closest friend and for whom I had the most respect. As to your specific points, I never considered it a "high-falutin'" name. It's not an ego-booster, although it does seem to be an attention-grabber. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not. And I admit, the name and the image that it evokes does somewhat fit with my personality. (Besides that, they make really good chocolate.) I certainly can't speak for any of the other Lords and Ladies, but I never thought of any of the people who use aliases as immature or insecure. And if anyone is wondering whether anyone outside of the net calls me Lady Godiva, no, not really. It's pretty much restricted to here. My close friends at college do have another nickname that they use to refer to me, but it's not nearly as evocative. They call me "The Wench". See why I use Lady Godiva instead? ;-) Share and enjoy - elizabeth g. purtell (Lady Godiva)