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What's in a name?
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
What's in a name? // Roundtable
Post by splinters // Jun 8, 2007, 7:00am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Well, last time I got 'curious' I started the 'show us yer room' thread and the response was just great.
So, in a futher attempt to bring a little informality to the forum, here is another privacy probing thread.
There are some curious user names here and I never really know what they imply. So, why not explain how you got or chose your user name.
I suppose it is only fair for me to start so let's go...
I used to be a musician working semi-professionally alongside my education. I am also called Woodward and once I became a teacher my specialism was Design and Technology which included an element of woodwork.
A friend of mine gave me the nickname splinters and to be honest I am not sure why. Most people called me Woody, but he called me Woody splinters and it sort of stuck. Maybe it is because reference has been made in the past to a Pianist 'playing the splinters' or maybe it is because of my 'woody' nickname.
Either way, it wasn't long before everyone in my musical circle of friends started using it and they kinda forgot my real name. When I ring them up to this day and say "it's Paul" they ask who?
So there you go, I needed a user name for the forums and that is why I chose mine.
Feel free to discuss your own...:D
I apologise in advance to members that simply use their real names but maybe you have a nickname or other alias that you use in other forums/online games etc. Just curious, I am sure we have all thought the same when we have seen a username such as Madmouse for example...... |
Post by rrf // Jun 8, 2007, 7:26am
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rrf
Total Posts: 319
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I' d like to make up a story - maybe about a dog or something - you know...'How was your day, boy?' the dog looked up and said 'rrf!' But in reality, it's just my initials :)
rf |
Post by splinters // Jun 8, 2007, 7:28am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Would be a great story though...:p |
Post by frootee // Jun 8, 2007, 7:41am
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frootee
Total Posts: 2667
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Cool. You know splinters, I have wondered this for a long time myself. My Turn!
When I was in graduate school in Arkansas (that's 2nd grade to the rest of the U.S. ... just kidding!) my roommate and neighbor went to eat lunch one day at Pizza Inn. There was a form to fill out for AARP (this is an organization in the states for people over 65), or some other organization for retired people. They filled one out for me, in the name: Frootee Lechak (my last name is Lechak). The first name came from some recordings of the Jerky Boys. The Jerky Boys were in-famous for making prank calls, and recording them. Some of their hits include the Egyptian Magician, and Saul (Saowl.... Saowl Rosenberg... ... Look Jerky, I Don't Need To Talk To You!). Anyway, the card came in the mail for me. It was a prank. But the name Frootee stuck, and has for the past 15 years or so. So I kept it. :jumpy: :banana:
Frootee |
Post by Wigand // Jun 8, 2007, 8:22am
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Wigand
Total Posts: 462
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Some years ago, I got a pc-game as a gift from my wife:
Spellforce. (Nice 3D graphic :) )
In this game I needed a name for my avatar.
First I thought about Wieland (the smith), but then
I changed the name to Wigand. I did not know that it is
a common name. Later I announced to a german
internet forum with this name and was very astonished,
one of the developers real name was Wigand. So I felt a
bit sheepish about it. :o |
Post by rcraig42 // Jun 8, 2007, 8:47am
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rcraig42
Total Posts: 4
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First initial, last name, and the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.
I've also been known as Llyr, which is simply my middle name (after King Llyr).
and also Llyricist, which is a play on my middle name combined with my musical proclivities (even though I'm more of a composer than lyricist). |
Post by Garion // Jun 8, 2007, 10:00am
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Garion
Total Posts: 116
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Well, nowt exciting here either, my name is Gary and I have been called Garion since the early sixties... :)
However,
I only use Garion when I am wearing my Graphics or Programming hat, when I am gaming I am known as Jevhaddah Caledonia, which was created in a drunken haze in 1970's Roleplaying group and I still use it today. :)
Cheers
aka
Jev
:cool: |
Post by b_scotty // Jun 8, 2007, 10:08am
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b_scotty
Total Posts: 176
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At last the secret of my name can be told....... ;)
Quite simply everyone calls me scotty, but that was taken, so I added the first letter of my first name, Benjamin and hey-presto! b_scotty was born!
Also, it is simple enough for me to remember. :))
They do say the mind is the first thing to go....... |
Post by RichLevy // Jun 8, 2007, 10:09am
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RichLevy
Total Posts: 1140
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Here my sig is my name, over at the GameSpace forums I am Carpenter, this is also the name I use on many other boards, though I am registering for forums now as RichLevy.
I started using the name Carpenter back in 2003 when I registered for the GS forums, somehow I messed up the registration, or the email got trapped in a spam filter... not really sure what happened anymore, so I re-registered, my name was already taken so I used the name Carpenter because that is what I do for a living... easy to remember. At this point though I am kinda sick of that name
Names I use
Carpenter
WoodButcher
2X4
RichLevy
Now the secret is out.
Rich |
Post by e-graffiti // Jun 8, 2007, 10:43am
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e-graffiti
Total Posts: 171
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e-graffiti goes back to about 1995 when I first started web development. Back then the web was literally "grey" as webpages all had grey backgrounds, no animated gifs, and no javascript rollovers! But I did have trueSpace version 1 :) . I am also a child of the hip hop era when graffiti was the way we "left our mark" (although I was not a graffiti artist I was more the comic book art guy who could break dance :banana: ). I wanted to beautify the web by leaving my mark electronically hence e-graffiti. I started a company doing website design as a side job. I learned real quick that doing commercial websites did not allow me very much "artistic" expression. These days I do multimedia work on a few sites (still on the side) and I am looking to put together a new site for the personal work of e-graffiti. |
Post by JimB // Jun 8, 2007, 10:45am
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JimB
Total Posts: 341
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The name Jim is mostly taken on forums there appears to be a very high population of Jim's about,so using my imagination I decided to use the first letter of my surname hence JimB :D |
Post by Délé // Jun 8, 2007, 11:08am
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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It should be interesting to see where some of these forum names came from. You know Paul, I always think of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I see your name. There is one part in the original movie where one of them says in a sad voice "Splinter". That always pops in my head when I see your name, lol. Just thought I'd share.
Ok, now for my name. See if you can follow this story. :)
My friends and I used to hang out at Perkins restaurant a lot when we were teenagers. You know, just sit, drink coffee, and smoke. Well, one day I was wearing a green sweatshirt. For those who don't know, I have red hair. For whatever reason only known to him, a friend of mine noticed this red and green color combination and called me "Christmas". The name stuck. Now I was also known for being a bit crazy back then. So the name naturally expanded to "Crazy Christmas".
What does this have to do with Délé you ask? I'm getting there, geez.
My sister-in-law is Turkish. So naturally I learned a little bit of the language and one of the first words I learned was "deli", which means "crazy".
Now when I was registering for a game I had never actually seen the word deli written, I had only heard my sister-in-law speak it. The way she pronounced it, it sounded like Délé. Not knowing how to write those goofy E's and being in the middle of a registration process I just wrote Delexms (For Crazy Christmas).
I used Delexms for a while but eventually I discovered how to write those goofy é letters and shortened it to Délé. This was a nice short memorable name that is often not already taken on other forums. So it stuck.
And der ya have it. :) |
Post by ProfessorKhaos // Jun 8, 2007, 11:20am
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ProfessorKhaos
Total Posts: 622
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I used to go by the name of Nightflight on the old Caligari forums. I wanted to use it again here but something happened when transitioning to the new forums so I repicked a name. I still use Nightflight as a name elsewhere (on a gecko forum of all things).
Here's an explanation I've used at the gecko site when asked that same question:
My user name will truly show you just how old of a guy I am.
Back before the beginning of time when cable TV consisted of VHF channels (that's 2-13 for you youngsters) I used to watch the USA Network and WTBS(the Alanta Superstation, pioneered by none other than Donald Trump). MTV had just come out but was a premium channel the way HBO and others still are today. Oh yea, they actually played music videos back then too, but unfortunately my folks didn't subscribe. In retrospect, it's probably for the best anyway.
The USA Network used to have a show called "Night Flight" which ran on Friday and Saturday nights through until morning. It basically was a show of cheesy movies and music videos. They had a really cool (for the early 80's) computer rendered logo where you were flying over a city with mountains in the background at night.
http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/2882/nightflightaz8.jpg
WTBS had it's own music video show as well called "Night Tracks" so mostly I ended up watching "Night Flight" for the cheesy movies and "Night Tracks" for the music videos.
Well, given that "Night Flight" had such a cool computer graphics intro, it sparked my interest in that field and remains a very big hobby of mine to this day. For example:
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/2940/sharkip9.jpg
So... that's where my name comes from. Weird huh?
Anyway, I thought ya'll might enjoy that explanation. Seems strangely relevant to this web site too. Alas, if only I could get my old username back :) |
Post by jayr // Jun 8, 2007, 11:56am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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my user name here is just my initials but on a few other forums i go by Lothissen which is also the name of my website. The domain name i had a few years ago (off-world) was gone so i had to use something else and i'd started writing a story set in a country called lothissen, i made the name up (from anglo-saxon words) so i knew it wouldn't be taken and i started using it everywhere then. |
Post by Steinie // Jun 8, 2007, 1:30pm
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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I actually explained why I used Steinie in another thread awhile back. There are two Robert Steinmans living in NJ. Both are Professional Artist. To avoid confusion I let the other one have my/his name. If there turns out to be another "Steinie" I will change my name to "Mistake" The name I heard my Parents call me when I was young....:D |
Post by Forcemaster2000 // Jun 8, 2007, 2:47pm
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Forcemaster2000
Total Posts: 130
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Well, I've been a Star Wars geek since 1977. :D
Back around 1995 or 1996 when I first started getting into the internet, I needed a nickname and I logged on to whatever site it was as Forcemaster. Since then I've always been Forcemaster2000. I had to add the 2000 to make it a little more unique. There are a few sites around the internet where I've been registered and can't get back in under Forcemaster2000 because I've lost my password, and my email is no longer the same, so I've had to register under "similar" names such as Force2k, FM2K etc.
Forcemaster2000 has basically became my online identity. Googling this nickname gets me about three pages of results that are all me, googling my real name gets absolutely nothing! And I kind of like it that way;) |
Post by prodigy // Jun 8, 2007, 3:50pm
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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Nice thread! Splinters hehehe..
Well, my real Name is Augusto, and my close friends calls me TUTO.
What means tuto?? nothing... :D is not tutto (italian word for ALL) is just tuto.. Thanks Eliana Rivero for that nick :D
Why Prodigy?? because im musician, piano teacher, i love the synths and i love the Electro music in many generes (goa trance, Drum n' base, Hard core and gabba)... One of my favorites techno groups is "The Prodigy" a group from England, with a unique Punk style mixed with techno and hardcore souds.. |
Post by xmanflash // Jun 8, 2007, 3:50pm
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xmanflash
Total Posts: 335
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I was nicknamed 'flash' after the dog in Dukes of Hazzard by some mates at college.. In many places 'flash' was already taken, so, as I had just seen the first x men movie I did a graft! |
Post by xmanflash // Jun 8, 2007, 3:54pm
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xmanflash
Total Posts: 335
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I was nicknamed 'flash' after the dog (http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/2/25/250px-Rosco.jpg) in Dukes of Hazzard by some mates at college.. In many places 'flash' was already taken, so, as I had just seen the first x men movie I did a graft! |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Jun 8, 2007, 5:06pm
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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Was a professional magician and am a Wizard Of Oz fan, was doing a bit of work for a software company and ended up redesigning their website (this is back when the internet was more a luxury than commonplace) - the boss, who's also a very good friend (still!), jokingly called me The Wicked Witch Of The Web and it's stuck ever since. |
Post by iBrent // Jun 8, 2007, 5:39pm
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iBrent
Total Posts: 102
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Growing up I thought my name was Dammit. My dad would often yell, "Dammit, get over here!"
:D
Sorry, I stole that from Bill Cosby :)
I needed a nickname when I started getting involved with some techy forums so I chose iBrent, as in iPod, or iPhone. (Brent would be my first name). Originally I had my picture in an iPod, but then I figured when I get famous I wouldn't want to be caught infringing on any patents. :D
iBrent |
Post by spacekdet // Jun 8, 2007, 6:24pm
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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Spacekdet: because it fit the 9 digit limitation on nicknames imposed by mIRC
Spacekdet: because it has 'space' in it.
Spacekdet: because it contains 'det', which is the first syllable in Detroit, geographically the closest large, recognizable metropolis. Ok, that was a stretch.
Spacekdet: because I can do 20 odd jobs all at the same time.
Spacekdet: because there are millions of space cadets, but only one Spacekdet. |
Post by Morgan // Jun 8, 2007, 8:52pm
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Morgan
Total Posts: 138
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Well, my user name here is simply my first name, as I generally prefer to have my real name at least somewhere visible when I'm showing off art or other creative endeavors.
On other sites, though, I am frequently known as "Chaomancer Omega". Why that name? As I recall it came about when some friends and I were joking around about the most ostentatious screen names we could come up with. That was my contribution. I use it because it has a nice ring to it, even if it is ostentatious, and I can pretty much guarantee it'll be available whereever I try. |
Post by blakeo // Jun 8, 2007, 10:12pm
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blakeo
Total Posts: 214
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Well I've used a few names over the years.
I was "Dr. Stein" for along time, a name I used in college on the VAX/VMS mainframe. It comes from a song buy the German metal group Helloween, who I used to listen to back then. This got shortened to "DrS" for a while.
I also use "Moonmaan" and was going to register for the forums with it but realised there was a Moonman associated with trueSpace already so decided to avoid any confusion.
Blakeo came from a night out many years ago with two friends of mine. For a laugh and being single guys we thought it would be fun if we had more "cool" names for the evening. One of us was Bodie Fist, one was Tyler Durden (yes, lack of imagination there!) and I was Blake Seches :cool: Blake Seches came about because we had been watching Blake's Seven on VHS... and Seches was a pun on Six, but sounds like sex... OK, so I was young back then!
The "o" got added at some to make it "Blake-ee-oh", and I use it or Moonmaan if I play anything online.
(BTW great thread Splinters!) |
Post by W!ZARD // Jun 9, 2007, 1:30am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Excellent thread Woody - er I mean Splinters!
W!ZARD - or in other forums WZRD, Cozmykwizard and variations on that theme - is not so much a nickname or internet handle as it is a job description. Ever since reading Lord of the Rings at age 13 I've been fascinated by not only Wizards but wisdom and magic. Later I married a woman who introduced me to Astrology and various other arcane schools of thought. Because of (or dispite) this I developed a deep interest in psychology, comparative religion and human consciousness in general. I learned to read Tarot Cards because I was fascinated about how they worked (which they do). I studied meditation and creative visualisation and in my early thirties I did a Improvisational Theatre Skills course which gave me the insight to draw all these apparently different aspects of my personality (including music and art) into one unified archetypal character, that of a Wizard.
It was whilst on this course that I took part in an exercise with the other participants. At that time we had come to know each other quite well - the course was not only very physically demanding it was also mentally and emotionally demanding (and incredibly liberating but that's another story). Anyway, this excercise, designed to improve our ability to characterise and understand not only ourselves but the roles we were playing, required us to think of each of our fellow participants and ask: If that person was a hat what sort of hat would they be?
This probably seems a little silly but was actually really interesting. One participant was a very good Country and Western singer, she was unanimously a cowboy hat. Another person really enjoyed cooking food - he was a chefs hat. Another person was a Carmen Miranda type hat with all the colourful fruit on it whilst yet another guy was a soldiers beret because of his affinity with things of a military nature.
I was a pointy Wizards hat! They all said so.
Later I got a job in a New Age bookstore selling books on crystals and alternative healing and Wicca and Numerology and so on. As I'm an accomplished speed reader and I love reading this was a perfect job for me. Poeple began to refer to me as the Wizard from that weird new age shop simply because I knew so much about ... well, wizardy things!
Even before it became obvious that I was in fact a Wizard I had members of my band refering to me as a Guru!
I fully accept that it may well seem pretentious or childish or unrealistic but anyone who gets to know me feels it totally appropriate to call me Wizard. It's not my fault and I didn't actively choose it - I just sort of grew into it!
So whilst I'm called Wizard by many people there are also bound to be a few folk who would call me incapable of writing a brief post!! |
Post by weaveribm // Jun 9, 2007, 2:33am
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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I took Weaver as my userid on the UseNet flight-sim forums when the original Weaver changed his userid. Weaver is the web thing obviously but it's also the name for a pilot who keeps his plane moving around not sure if an enemy plane is dogging his six if I can say that in mixed company :)
Ibm is just added to be a Weaver instantiation that survives getting gleaned with all the other weavers around. I smile to see Weevil in here since the Weevil is what a well known and very amusing character on the UseNet flight-sim forum used to call me. Meester Martinho the porn star from Brazil. Interesting avatar if you've had the privilege of meeting him online. But why am I telling you this :)
arcane
Arcadian :)
Blake's Seven on VHS
lol I am so there mate :)
Bill Cosby
He started out as a child yes. We slung out our vinyl albums years back and that one was one of them. What a dumb move :( (plus Sergeant Pepper would you believe doh!)
<sfx: Godlike echo> "Noah. You will build me an Ark"
"Who is this really? Am I on Candid Camera?"
"Look have you ever tried to catch two mosquitos?"
"Voo-bah-voo-bah-voo-bah"
Normal service will soon be restored :)
Peter |
Post by JPSofCA // Jun 9, 2007, 8:01am
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JPSofCA
Total Posts: 300
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JPS is my name (John P. Sullivan) and CA is the United State in which I reside (California) = JPSofCA :) |
Post by Changa // Jun 9, 2007, 8:47am
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Changa
Total Posts: 187
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My name is Stanislav Byalskiy – no connection with nick name which goes from old Russian cartoon about a little boat travelling around the world and found small island with happy and funny aborigines dancing and singing something like this“Choonga-Changa (island name) is the funny place, Choonga-Changa summer all the year…” Then I moved from Russia to Cyprus and decided that probably here is my Choonga-Changa. Now my company’s name is Changa Vision and nickname – Changa.:banana: |
Post by EyeInStein // Jun 9, 2007, 9:57am
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EyeInStein
Total Posts: 38
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A homonym. I love 'em and find them amusing to use. A double edged sew ward, I guess you could say...
I use Bluetiereign on the forums I admin - from the Blue Ridge Mountains where I reside - Blue Terrain. When on voice (team speak for gaming) though, everyone seemed to find it awkward to use. While deciding on an easier name to use, I broke down you know who's name into syllables and liked the result. Everyone just calls me Eye... problem solved.
I share no other attributes with the man. I am balding and dumb as a rock. |
Post by Shike // Jun 9, 2007, 11:41am
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Shike
Total Posts: 511
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Hrrmm, my nick is only because I'm no good at coming up with fancy names.:o
"Shike" is a book...don't remember exactly what it's about or if Shike was a japanese word or the name of the character...but I've continued using it :D
I've noticed that I'm not the only one using it though...so I'm only using it on this board.
Oh, and in "TestDrive Unlimited", if you play that game online and see someone constantly sliding off the road named "Shike72", that's me! ;) |
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