As I sit in front of my computer, ambling around on the invention of Al Gore, I find a website I have not visited in quite some time. The ‘username’ and ‘password’ boxes sit empty, waiting to be filled, and so I obligingly type “Sharkkato103” and “*******” respectively. ‘Invalid username or password’ the prompt tells me. I sit and stare incredulously at the site. “How could that be invalid?” I wonder, “I’ve used that name for everything since the fourth grade!”
Everything except this site apparently. So I stop, and think – did I go by a different name back then, a different alias? The site… I would have first been there about eighth grade. What names did I go by back then? There was the obligatory ‘Murph’ and also ‘Smurphy’ and ‘Papa Smurph’ and ‘Mr. Lambing’, (long story) ‘Cloud’, ‘Zyine’, ‘Allryn’, ‘Ren’ (short for renaissance man), ‘Q’, and a ton more I couldn’t remember. However, I remember I was going through a phase, one where I decided that my fourth grade internet name wouldn’t cut it anymore. Was this one of the sites I had signed up as Cloud77777 on? (I was also a big fan of jackpots and sevens). Was it R1e7n7? Quiri? Zyine? Allryn? G_Elwish_Truesilver?
Which nickname did I use for this site? And then it dawned on me. I didn’t use a nickname for this – during the period of eighth grade – none of those names stuck for very long – I just made them my names on the internet. This was one of those periods between names – I finally remembered, this internet screen name was simply Username: ‘MichaelAlanMurphy’ Password: ‘*******’
“Welcome!” said the website. “You have 539 new messages and 1057 new submissions!” it told me. I smiled – this should keep me occupied for a few hours – I thought to myself.
When I had finished carousing the site, a curious thought came to me: None of my nicknames in real life ever truly ‘stuck’ there are people whose nicknames become their actual names. While there are nicknames which people don’t like, which still stick for their entire lives.
In this case, my nicknames aren’t the ones people make up for me, they’re the ones I’m known as on the internet.
‘Nice cap Z!’
‘use the ult LK, roflmao’
‘dude, shark, wtf r u doin?’
The names I am most accustomed to responding to are the names that people don’t say out loud. Kind of funny when you think about it.
2 comments:
I want to hear the stories behind you nicknames! They sound compelling. So, what do the nicknames that you made up for yourself mean? Would you like a nickname that people call you in the real world (vs the digital world) to stick? Can I call you Smurfy?
yes, interesting that your nicknames are really all digital. "funny when you think about it"
Mr. Lambing?
I like Ren-- it fits your renaissance character! I'm AMAZED that you remembered your username from seventh grade! Did you mention what site this was? Al Gore's invention? You have a natural blogging voice-- developing since fourth grade, i guess.
Post a Comment