What's the Etymology of your PF Name?

  • Thread starter Les Sleeth
  • Start date
In summary, the names given to players' personal flight forms in Pokémon seem to be based on people or things with meanings that the player might find confusing or unpleasant. Some of the names (like Boulderhead) are not very creative, while others (like Les) are based on personal experiences. Franznietzsche is a combination of two famous authors who may not be popular with the player.
  • #1
Les Sleeth
Gold Member
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Has anybody besides me wondered about some of the names chosen for one's PF ID? When I first found this place I used to wonder about the name Hurkyl all the time. Is it really his name or does it mean something mysterious? Integral sort of made sense to me, him being a science whiz and all.

But what's the deal with Boulderhead? Is his head huge, hard, volcanic, smooth . . .?

Nereid! What the hell is going on there? I keep getting images of a genius alien here teaching us clueless humans good stuff.

Selfadjoint. . . explain yourself.

What about Moonbear. Does she moon bears?

Tribdog, I hate to even imagine what he's got going on with doggies.

Smurf, is he a little purple thing with hair flying off in every direction?

Chroot, everytime I hear that I think of cigars for some reason.

Evo, is that a secret little way of saying evil?

Fliption, I don't think I'll ever figure that one out. Does he flip people off, or flip out, or flip cards, or what??

Les, well, I'm stuck with it. My mom named me Leslie! :cry: Jeez mom, that's a girls name! So I've been just "Les" ever since.


Anyway, if you care to share the etymology of your PF name, please do.
 
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  • #2
:biggrin: :biggrin: This should be an entertaining topic. I may have answered your question in another thread but my memory is unclear on that point.

[edit]
I understood men named Leslie tend to be touchy on how others pronounce it. For instance 'Leslie' is OK but 'lezlie' is insulting. Is this so, or is my information faulty?
 
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  • #3
mine is too complicated to write out :biggrin:
 
  • #4
BoulderHead said:
I understood men named Leslie tend to be touchy on how others pronounce it. For instance 'Leslie' is OK but 'lezlie' is insulting. Is this so, or is my information faulty?

So I can I assume you didn't like the "huge, hard, volcanic, smooth" comments about your head?
 
  • #5
Greg Bernhardt said:
mine is too complicated to write out :biggrin:

Just explain your avatar and I am sure it will satisfy a great many members.
 
  • #6
:smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :biggrin:
That is very funny, but I'm sorry for making you think that. Lol, now that I read it all over again it does make me laugh. Ok, are you certain you really want to know?
 
  • #7
If you can't guess mine, well...

Franz Kafka + Friedrich Nietzsche = Franznietzsche

Kafka was an existentialist author, his stories focused on the absurdityof life, alienation between people, fundamental loneliness of existence.

Nietzsche had a lot of ideas, some good, some not so good, and he was just about the most miserable human being of the 18th century.
 
  • #8
http://webhome.idirect.com/~donlong/monsters/Html/Nereid.htm of a moon of Neptune (not hard to work out how astronomers decided to name those moons, consider that the first moon discovered is called Triton).

Of course, the biologists went and spoiled it - nereids indeed!

But, Les dear, this is the internet, and as the famous New Yorker cartoon goes, http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/idog.html :smile: :eek: :wink: :eek: :!)
 
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  • #9
BoulderHead said:
:smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :biggrin:
That is very funny, but I'm sorry for making you think that. Lol, now that I read it all over again it does make me laugh. Ok, are you certain you really want to know?

Of course! Let's hear it. In the future I'll make sure to attach a smiley face to my comments (I was attempting deadpan humor, forum-style) so everyone knows I'm teasing. Greg, I'd love to know why you chose (what is it anyway, Bigfoot, a Wookie . . .?) for your avatar.
 
  • #10
BoulderHead said:
:smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :biggrin:
That is very funny, but I'm sorry for making you think that. Lol, now that I read it all over again it does make me laugh. Ok, are you certain you really want to know?
YES, oh, and to satisfy the 'number of characters god, yes.
 
  • #11
If I don't explain now, someone will look up the reference and it will be even more awkward!


I used to play Magic: the Gathering. I first got hooked up to the internet through Prodigy, and I participated in a M:tG role play forum, playing two married M:tG characters Hurkyl and Drafna. I eventually developed Hurkyl to have a good personality and Drafna to have an evil personality, so I usually wound up RPing Hurkyl, and only bringing in Drafna to mess things up from time to time. Since I signed off as Hurkyl most often there, I began to sign off as Hurkyl through other media, as it was more familiar, and it just stuck.


Oh, I almost forgot why it's awkward: well, Drafna was the husband...



Greg's is Harry, I think. You know, the sasquach that lived with the Hendersons.
 
  • #12
I used to play Magic: the Gathering. I first got hooked up to the internet through Prodigy, and I participated in a M:tG role play forum, playing two married M:tG characters Hurkyl and Drafna. I eventually developed Hurkyl to have a good personality and Drafna to have an evil personality, so I usually wound up RPing Hurkyl, and only bringing in Drafna to mess things up from time to time. Since I signed off as Hurkyl most often there, I began to sign off as Hurkyl through other media, as it was more familiar, and it just stuck.
Hurkyl, if understanding that could have saved my mortal soul I would surely be dead now. I absolutely have no idea what that was all about but don’t think it would be worth anyone’s time trying to explain it to me either, thanks! :biggrin:
 
  • #13
Les you never included me. :sad:

Dekoi... originated from the word "decoy".

I guess it is a satire -- i am in fact -- or so i see myself -- as the antonym of decoy.

Just a curious question: are moderators given the right to change people's nicknames on request? I know that they can , but do you do it on request?
 
  • #14
Long, stupid story. What's interesting is that half the people I know actually call me 'check' instead of my real name.
 
  • #15
On the surface, SelfAdjoint is pretty straight-forward ... look at his background and interests, and think maths and matrices.

No doubt, given his rich experiences and long life, there are many layers to the name ... I confess to having wondered just how many and what ... I do hope he'll oblige us!
 
  • #16
Les, yes, Evo=Evil, but let me explain. My younger daughter has a way of ALWAYS getting what she wants, from EVERYONE. She has incredible robin's egg blue eyes and a can make a face that makes you melt, so I started calling her the "child of evil", which became the "child of evo". That would make me "Evo". :zzz: :zzz:
 
  • #17
Hurkyl, if understanding that could have saved my mortal soul I would surely be dead now.

It's such a good feeling when a plan comes to fruition!
 
  • #18
dekoi said:
Les you never included me. :sad:

Don't take it personally that I didn't mention you. I was sitting here trying my best to remember who I've wondered about. You are a relative newcomer here, so maybe next year we'll all start teasing you. :smile:
 
  • #19
Nereid said:
On the surface, SelfAdjoint is pretty straight-forward ... look at his background and interests, and think maths and matrices.

No doubt, given his rich experiences and long life, there are many layers to the name ... I confess to having wondered just how many and what ... I do hope he'll oblige us!


Just for the record, my joking about everyone's name is totally done with affection and respect. I've disagreed at one time or another with most of whom I've named, but usually while admiring their knowledge and debating skills. SelfAdjoint's breadth of knowledge in particular has been impressive.
 
  • #20
Hurkyl said:
It's such a good feeling when a plan comes to fruition!
What, not even a smiley? :cry:
 
  • #21
BoulderHead said:
What, not even a smiley? :cry:

Hey, we're still waiting for that explanation. :rolleyes:
 
  • #22
I always thought Selfadjoint was linked to the physics term, like selfadjoint operators in Hilbert spaces.
 
  • #23
It may be too late, I think Hurkyl has delivered a fatal blow, but if I'm still alive this weekend I promise to make it my next post (brings back bad memories). I need to sleep now.
 
  • #24
I used own all the newspaper racks in Chandler, AZ. I would go out and fill up my racks everynight, 7 days a week 365 a year. I would get bored being by myself so I went to the pound and adopted a puppy to ride along with me. I sold the Tribune in my racks so named my dog trib. One day I got online and found an awesome game called Acrophobia (gone now), I signed up to play and when asked what screen name I wanted I picked Trib. Trib either wasn't long enough or already taken, so I typed tribdog. It was accepted and a legend was born.

ps Hurkyl was the wife
 
  • #25
My nickname came to existence in a rather round about way. On a variety of other boards, I use a completely different nickname that is a Latin/biological reference to my real name. On one of those boards, someone mentioned, being cute, that it made her think of moon bear. If you knew the other name I go by, the moon reference makes some sense, but I think the bear part was just being cute. When I came here, I wanted a new nickname than the one I've used elsewhere (there is one member here, who shall remain nameless, who I knew from another board, and who made himself a bit of a pest - harmless but annoying - so I don't want him to know I'm that same person lest he think he can fill my PM inbox daily). So, that's the story of how Moonbear came to be.
 
  • #26
tribdog said:
I used own all the newspaper racks in Chandler, AZ. I would go out and fill up my racks everynight, 7 days a week 365 a year. I would get bored being by myself so I went to the pound and adopted a puppy to ride along with me. I sold the Tribune in my racks so named my dog trib. One day I got online and found an awesome game called Acrophobia (gone now), I signed up to play and when asked what screen name I wanted I picked Trib. Trib either wasn't long enough or already taken, so I typed tribdog. It was accepted and a legend was born.

ps Hurkyl was the wife


I think acrophobia is still around. My dad used to play and recently mentioned something about playing it again. This is a few weeks ago he mentioned this.
 
  • #27
franznietzsche said:
I think acrophobia is still around. My dad used to play and recently mentioned something about playing it again. This is a few weeks ago he mentioned this.
I used to play constantly. I was good too. I think it was the chatting more than the game that was so great. Acrophobia introduced me to the world of message boards you all can blame them.
 
  • #28
Moonbear said:
My nickname came to existence in a rather round about way. On a variety of other boards, I use a completely different nickname that is a Latin/biological reference to my real name.
That's also why I chose a new nickname when I joined here. I was very well known for years online (I found out there were some websites dedicated to me by people I did not know ), CLEAN websites, no kinky stuff, these were mostly propeller heads, just kind of like shrines to me, :bugeye: and I didn't want that following me here.
 
  • #29
Well, I was really thinking when I joined, and I just used my name. I may be the only one in the US. This was not so smart on my part. At the same time, it is like hiding in plain sight. If I could, I would change to a nickname, and drop my real name. No one is going to follow me around, or create a shrine to me, I am gloriously unimportant.
 
  • #30
Moonbear said:
My nickname came to existence in a rather round about way. On a variety of other boards, I use a completely different nickname that is a Latin/biological reference to my real name. On one of those boards, someone mentioned, being cute, that it made her think of moon bear. If you knew the other name I go by, the moon reference makes some sense, but I think the bear part was just being cute. When I came here, I wanted a new nickname than the one I've used elsewhere (there is one member here, who shall remain nameless, who I knew from another board, and who made himself a bit of a pest - harmless but annoying - so I don't want him to know I'm that same person lest he think he can fill my PM inbox daily). So, that's the story of how Moonbear came to be.

Uhhhhh, I think you forgot to include your history of mooning bears, which is legend in Ohio.
 
  • #31
I chose mine from a Calvin and Hobbes strip. It's one I've been using for years and years (pre-WWW days even).
 
  • #32
Les Sleeth said:
Uhhhhh, I think you forgot to include your history of mooning bears, which is legend in Ohio.


I love that one!

Everyone gatherround the fire now while Les tells the story...:bugeye:
 
  • #33
lol, evo has shrines. I'd like a shrine.
 
  • #34
imabug said:
I chose mine from a Calvin and Hobbes strip. It's one I've been using for years and years (pre-WWW days even).
am I that old? I didn't realize Calvin and Hobbes was pre www. I remember when it was new.
 
  • #35
tribdog said:
am I that old? I didn't realize Calvin and Hobbes was pre www. I remember when it was new.

Yeah, you're old, just like me. I miss Calvin and Hobbes! That's one of my all-time favorite cartoons! When I was in grad school, a bunch of us TAs got a great game of Calvin Ball going during our end of year party. It was so much fun! And much better suited to a bunch of uncoordinated bio geeks than any real sport.
 

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