Handles?

[AZ Rail Rat]

For lack of what we really call them (our online names), I must revert back to the old CB days. For you young squirts, a CB is a "Citizen Band" radio, a few landbased, but mostly mobile units installed in your vehicle. They were very popular from the late '60s until a bunch of trash-mouths ran most everyone (at least me) away from them in the late '70s. They seem to be almost exclusive now to truckers I guess.

Anyway, starting this thread for those who wish to share where your "handle" came from. Many are close to self-explanatory: Grandma Ruth or others with part of your REAL names in. Still others took LOTS of imagination, hey Zoë? We heard about how Hawk and Badger came about. I can't wait to hear Grindy's story.

So, I'll start: Just after getting RRT3, I signed up for the Gathering forum - - - remember it? Since this was my first signup for ANYTHING requiring a user name other than my email account, I did want to be more imaginative. Thinking of the little mouse on the rails of the RRT3 opening video, and of course residing in Arizona, thus it fell out of the sky. Because AZ Rail "Mouse" did not quite fit my stature (and just slightly beyond "girlish figure"), thus I bacame - - - AZ Rail Rat!

[Knave]

Living in Alaska means a construction worker is often away from home. I had just come in from a long hitch in the middle of nowhere. The kids were in bed. I was serious as a heart attack when I apologized for the genetics that caused our Daughter to grow a mustache. "It must have come from my side of the family", I said. There was no mustache. The bewildered look on my Wife's face poured more fuel into my story. I told her that little changes over time often go unnoticed. And we should keep her out of school the next day to get her what she needed to keep it removed. So there we are late at night. And I can feel my Wife's wheel just a spinning. Sure enough she got out of bed, grabbed the flashlight and went to The Daughter's room. After shining the flashlight into the face of our little girl, and waking her up, The Wife came back. I'm laying there with my face buried deep into my pillow to mask my laughter. Tears just rolling out of my eyes. A little while after I gained some control she turns to me and says " You are a Bad, Bad Man!!" The next morning my Daughter chimed in with an glare learned at the feet of her mother and agreed. I was a Bad Bad Man. So now when ever I pull some stunt I'm reminded what a Bad, Bad Man I am. A title I wear proudly. When looking for a handle I wanted something to reflect this title. One word of Old English I learned was from Daffy Duck. " Knave".

[Gwizz]

Knave,
You didn't say what you were laughing at. I guess I can imagine what it was. The wife pounding on you.

My CB handle was Shadetree and the wifes Acorn.

For my PC handle the word Shade Tree was taken and I said Gwizz and it stuck.
I stopped using it on the Grandscale forum where real names are used, after getting too many chuckles.

[Hawk]

Now this is an interesting thread.
for starting it Rat.

[CeeBee]

When I first went on the internet many moons ago I needed a nickname for a chat room. Being the rather unimaginitive type I just added a few ee's to my initials, hence CeeBee for my name Chuck Barkman.

[STG2]

i was in the navy for 81/2 years and my rate was sonar technician surface petty officer 2nd class surface warfare. stg2(sw) was just alot shorter. started using that on empire earth right after i got out and have used it ever since on all my games and internet posts.

[thegrindre]

Grindy???

Somewhere around 47 years ago is when it all started. My 'best' friend's big brother taught us both how to play poker. (That's before my teen years, btw.) He was a jailbird, was out for awhile, and needed 'some action', I guess. He grabbed us both by the back of the neck and stated, "If I ever catch you two cheating, I'll kill you both." (He meant it, too.) It then began...

The 'poker thing' had sunk it's hook and I've been playin' poker ever since. In all the places I've lived in these United States, I've either hosted a game or found and played in one.

About 15 years ago, the casino business opened up in the south, (You may know of it as 'Tunica'. It's on the Mississippi River just 30 minutes south of Memphis Tennessee. The actual town is Robinsonville but the Tunica name comes from the county it's in.), and I got my kicks playin poker 7 days a week, if I wanted too. I've actually become quite good at it and would sit for hours not playing a hand but waiting for 'the best of it' then pounce. This would usually net me a profit and I would leave and off to the house I would go till the next time. Well, this grinded out a small profit over time and one player said to me once, "You are a true grinder, aren't you? 'Hit n run' is all you do, isn't it?"

Sooo, in '97 I started 'learnin'' the Internet but the, TheGrinder, was already taken by a butcher and I needed to find something else. I believe across the pond in 'Ruth'sville', I've seen the "ER" spelling as "RE" and...

that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[Wolverine@MSU]

Mine is pretty self-explanitory. I went to school at the University of Michigan (home of the Wolverines [the state mammal by the way]), and then got a job up the road at Michigan State University. It's taken a while, but over the last 14 years here I've slowly become a Spartan sports fan, and find myself even rooting for them in any MSU vs. U of M games....although I do sometimes wear a U of M sweatshirt to class on those days, just to get a rise out of the students.

[Grandma Ruth]

"Ruth'sville"?

When I signed in as "Grandma Ruth" I sort of expected to be surrounded by teenage boys. Imagine my delight in finding Hawk and others, even "Grindy" who's actually older than me !!!!

Glad to see we are getting some younger people in now - I even learned what "Generation X" is !!!!

[Ace of Spades]

My favorite band in the world has always been KISS. My favorite member of the band was Ace Frehley. I then acquired that nickname in college. Shortly thereafter I heard the song "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead and it became one of my many favorite songs. When I found the magic of internet message boards, I thought it would be a cool name to use. That's my story & I'm stickin' to it .

[proudcanadian]

Mine's also pretty self-explanitory. For my entire life, I've lived in Canada, and I've been to a couple other places, but I have to say it's one of the most beautiful, spectactular, and amazing places in the world. Thus I'm proud to call myself a Canadian.

[WPandP]

The W. P. & P. is my fictional railroad, which I have been modeling for about 20 years. You can read more about it at my web page, but the short story is that it is a small Virginia / West Va. coal hauler as well as a bridge route between B&O and N&W. It is extremely similar to the Virginian railroad, and I model it as if it were merged into the N&W in 1967 (the VGN did this in 1959).

About two years ago I launched my web page, wpandp.com, so I'm using that as my handle. Not much mystery there, but those of you who might be train nuts or model railroaders like me might appreciate the backstory.

[canis39]

Mine's pretty boring but I thought I would share anyway. :)

In the mid-90's when the whole "online nickname" thing came about, I decided I needed one that was unique. My brother in law had chosen "Coccyzus" as his nickname, and I thought that was pretty cool. (Coccyzus is the Genus of birds that includes cuckoos [and possibly roadrunners, if I remember correctly]). I went looking for other Genuses, and came across Canis, which is the Genus of mammals that includes dogs and wolves. Added the 39 - representing my birthday, March 9th - because "Canis" was already taken...and I've been Canis39 ever since.

[Hawk]

You dog you!

[KevinL]

Mine is my name, obviously, but on boards where I dont use my name I go by "Thresher" as in the shark. When I was a kid I was given a kite in the form of a thresher shark with a huge tail. I've called myself Thresher ever since.
My email also was thresher but when I switched ISP's it wasnt available, and neither was Tiburon (spanish for shark) so I ended up with a crazy spelling of shark.

[Canadian Viking]

I was a total sports nut growing up in Minnesota (land of Swedes, Norwegians and Finns) in the 1960's when the Minnesota Vikings were an expansion team in the NFL. In 1970 my family moved to the best part of Canada (that would be Alberta), where I have stayed for most of the past 37 years. I'm still a Viking fan, and when I need a handle I just put the two together.

[JayEff]

In RT2 days I visited Ceebee'S (Chuck Barkman's) website, and just made my handle the same way. My name is Joe Fitzpatrick. Hey Chuck! Glad to meet you, neighbour!

[CeeBee]

In RT2 days I visited Ceebee'S (Chuck Barkman's) website, and just made my handle the same way. My name is Joe Fitzpatrick. Hey Chuck! Glad to meet you, neighbour!

Small world, isn't it
Jerry(Gwizz) is just across the border and John(JSS) is even closer at the coast so this is almost like a homecoming

[thegrindre]

Hey, lookie here... Everybody does have a 'mug'.

[Braindead6]

I guess I might as well tell you how my handle came about. I farm a lot of the year, and when we're not busy here I drive a truck. After a really long trip, I got home and went to sleep. My wife woke me up about 24 hours later and said that I slept like I was braindead.

Jim