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How are handles created? What do they mean?
7

How are handles created? What do they mean?

How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
Hello,

I recently read a posting by "alekky" where I learned that an electrician is nicknamed Alec in some parts of the world. I learned that he got his name when quite young and naïve and I learned that "alekky" is derived from Alec. That makes a lot of sense and the handle is short and easy to remember.

I think that there is a story behind most handles in here. But some are not so easy to decipher. So, please: all you rnd2 and sailoday28 and 25362 and all other - how did you create your handle? What is the story behind it?

I will let you in on my secret: Skogsgurra comes from Swedish Skog (forest) and Gunnar (an old Viking name). We were three guys in the same department (technical, of course) and there was a need to distinguish between us. I lived furthest from city center. Not exactly in the forest (I do now), but closest to it. So that's why.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

In Wales, the name Jones is common.
If you saw the film Zulu, you will recall that the soldiers of the Welsh regiment were known by ther numbers.... something that carries over from civilian life where they would be discriminated by their profession... Jones the Milk (milk delivery man), Jones the Post, Jones the butcher. Of course, Jones the soldier doesn't do it in a regment of "Jones the Soldier" hence the numbers. Ditto for the Williamses.

Common handles or nicknames include "Chalky" White, which is fairly obvious, and "Nobbby" Clark though I have no idea why that is.

Any more out there?

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

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RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
jmw,

Shall I infer that you are one of the Joneses? And that you are a Milkman. And that your surname is Williams? That would explain the "jmw". Or am I completely wrong?

BTW. I always thought of "Nobby" as "Nobody". Wrong again?

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Welsh I'm not. I've got the blood of a fair few races in me but that isn't one of them.

I thought I'd look up the Nobby clark reference and got distracted by this site of Scouse dockers nicknames (Scouse is Liverpoll England) which is probably more amusing than the names people give themselves as handles... http://www.pettitt.fsnet.co.uk/Dockers%20Nicnames....

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Incidentally, the word "nickname" has an origin you may apreciate:
" In Middle English the word was ekename (from the verb to eke, "enlarge"; compare Swedish ?knamn). Later, an ekename developed into a nickname."

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I explained on an old thread that my handle is based on the birthday of a beloved person.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

skogsgurra
I do research and development as well as management stuff, hence rnd2.
Incidentally, alekky is brilliant. a lekky is an electrician.
In Australia they are known in the trade as 'Leckies. If someone required the services of an electrician they would look for a 'Lecky.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
Thanks,

See? There is a story or some thinking behind all nicknames and handles. We call our electricians "Lysmask" which translates into "Firefly" I guess that it comes from those old times when electricity was used mainly for lighting purposes (Lys = Light and Mask = Worm or Bug).

It is an old trade: When the Lord said; Let there be light! The "Lecky" had already put up the armature, the wires and the switch...

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

In this forum, my handle is merely all of my initials.  In some forums (fora?), I use "dwattedwabbit" an Elmer Fuddism that I use as a term of endearment (perhaps) for my old 1984 VW Rabbit.  It does deserve some endearment - it's steady and reliable, for all its age.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Mine is simple.

Its what I was drinking when I registered on this forum.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
Had to think for a while about that one, rnd2. Research and development too?

Haven't been able to figure out all your names yet, schetwynd. Stanly Charles Henry Ernest (important to be) Theodore William (or Wilhelm?) and then I have to give up -York (is that a name?)

And MintJulep: I was completely sober when I registered. My drinking came later...

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Sorry, skogsgurra (and others).  I forgot that my handle for this forum is the initial of my first name plus my last name.  I usually use "samc."

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
And I just came up with Yorrick...

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

You are correct skogsgurra.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

First name intitial, complete middle name. JamesD was taken.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Old US war movies tended to refer to the radio operator and electrical types in general as "Sparky."  

I'm one of those by education, but doing mostly electro-optical sensors of the thermal imaging kind, hence IR.

TTFN

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I have a fascination with building large dsplacement inline six cylinder engines based on altered production parts.  Sure you can go faster with a v-8 but where's the challenge in mail ordering and assembling parts?

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

First name last Initial.....

Nick
I love materials science!

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Mine is a high school nickname that I’ve decided to embrace, nothing deeper than that.  Besides, it sounds much better than the AngryArtichoke or the WhimsicalWatermelon, and has fewer letters.

"But what... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Isambard was taken.  In honor of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My initials are B.E.G. so it just kinda flowed...

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15
www.hp15c.org
--------------------

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Then there is the story of the electrician and the plumber, who went into business together.

They were known as "Flash" and "Flush".
jimbo

Buy a dictionary, keep it nearby and USE it. Webster's New World Dictionary of American English is recommended, and Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Initials plus where I is.  Or where I'll have been once I leave.

Hg

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I had guessed that the Hg was for Mercury.  Sounds like the makings of a whole new handle...

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Back in the old MVS (mainframe, no graphics) days I worked in computer security.  To keep the user files from being interleaved with the important system files, we came up with a file naming convention of "z" plus initials plus a number to differentiate one DAS from the next to clump all the users at the end of the catalog.

That has been my userID for 25 years, through MVS, CICS, CMS, early networking, and so now it is me and I always use it.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
www.muleshoe-eng.com
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

The Plural of "anecdote" is not "data"

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

And what the Skogsgurra handle stands for ?

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My handle is my surname backwards. Someone else was using it forwards.

Jeff

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Mine is the company name and was devised by marketing people. These are probably the same people that make perfume advertisements for tv, totally meaningless. They described the name Corus as meaning 'one voice in harmony' which just shows that marketing people know nothing of harmonics, know nothing of steel making, and can't spell either. Cruelly, others say it means CO-R-US, referring to Carbon Monoxide waste products.

corus

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Simply my initials

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I also use Sparky for ny electrical engineer colleagues. I like Lekkie, though.

Hydraulics Engineers are Oilies.

Mechanical Engineers are Clankies, and I is one.

Cheers - John

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

As a college freshman (1965) our class was told that a slide rule would be essential. I decided to get a "top of the line" model so that it would last an entire career. (Selected a Pickett N4-ES for about $25). A few years after mastering it's use (all 34 scales), a technology revolution comes along - electonic calculators, then personal computers. Needless to say - that slide rule truly HAS lasted for an entire career! I still have it and on occasion show it off (and how to use it) to younger engineers.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Wish that I can tell you, but it is a secret ;*)...

Go Mechanical Engineering
Tobalcane

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I know your secret, brother.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

TheTick,

Ahh, are you a brother of FM and is your level MM?  If you are, I thought his name is appropriate for this site.

Go Mechanical Engineering
Tobalcane

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I should confess to a complete lack of imagination. My handle is based on my initials.
I showed more imagination in my company name... it is a combination of my wife's and my own middle names which are neither normal.

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

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RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I should add that i have different handles depending on the site i visit.

On the epinions.com site I use the handle "Mr Luddite" for no other reason that that i joined the site simpley to slag off some pretty poor products I have bought (excluding the infamous lawnmower in the profesional ethics forum).
 
I think at the time i joined i was particularly incensed by a particular well known virus checker firewall etc all bundled into one and a total nuisance.

I note, incidentally, than many pundits recommend separate installations of the compenents... I now use AVG, on my wifes machine,which does the job unobtrusively but am stuck with it on my business machine.

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I also was unimaginative and used my initials, mainly so I wouldn't have to type a long name.  On all my quilting forums I use "Nuke" because there aren't any other engineers there.  On this one, I figured that would be taken and wasn't sure how much freedom was allowed for more "frivilous" handles.

Patricia Lougheed

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I'm not the one to judge whether I'm mercurial.

I learned the Hg symbol in 7th grade and thought it was way cool that it matched my initials.  My grandfather had the same initials and signed the same way, as he told me after I started using it.  On versions of the periodic table that highlight the liquid metals, my name sticks right out in the middle.

I've signed as Hg ever since, even in letters to family.  There was one BBS back in college (back in BBS days) where some other guy had Hg and ordered me to stop using it because he didn't want people thinking I was him, so I went by -80-.  (Geddit?)

I have a vague recollection that eng-tips didn't want me to use a 2-letter handle so I added TX.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Mine is an old school nickname that fell out of use when my circle of friends changed.  Got it when some kid couldn't remember my real surname during a soccer game and he wanted me to pass him the ball.  He new the name had something to do with something with the same function as a bung, hence the name.  Nothing to do  wiht the Wizard of Id  character (at least not directoy).

Bung
Life is non-linear...

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Hmmmm.... metengr, I like to keep a low profile and keep others guessing (like fellow employees). It could stand for either my initials/engr or short for metallurgical engineer. Either way, I don't want anyone from my company to know that I enjoy this forum. Although my wife thinks I am having technical cybersex.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

2
metengr,

I laughed at you last post.  My wife has called this site engineer porn, or Eng-####, where #### is a vulgar word for breasts that looks and sounds similar to tips.

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Quote (MyWife):


"You perverted freak.  It's the weekend.  You should be looking at naked ladies."

When she caught me reading eng-tips on a Saturday.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

oryPad/The Tick;
I had to give you each a star because that is exactly what my wife claims - to the letter. Maybe....., they should start a forum for engineer wives .....naah!

 

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

"Although my wife thinks I am having technical cybersex."
Amen.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I would like to add, I just like the annonymity a handle affords. My pet hate, although sometimes unavoidable, is brand names bandied about.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Rig is my last name shortened.
I got rerig when I was Night Shift Maintenance Chief in a Navy Transport Squadron.  Every night we had to reconfigure (rerig) the transport aircraft for the next days missions.
I was dubbed "Chief Rerig"
I retired 15 years ago. Then really went to work.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

notnats said: "My handle is my surname backwards."

I just got done reading a book about Edwin Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War.  Any relation to him?  I've only met one person with that surname, a journalist in western Mass.  It doesn't seem to be a very common name.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Hmmm ... maybe some Canadian Engineer named John?  Possibly?

JMW (my initials) were taken.  Given I know three other Engineers named John I figured there would be at least some anonymity in the handle.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

To those that claim a lack of imagination for using the initials, I lack even that level. First name, last initial. There you are.


Byron T.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

BryonT-

"They may think it's an organization.  And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in......   ......And friends they may thinks it's a movement." --Arlo Guthrie "Alice's Restaurant"

(Well theres two of us"

Nick
I love materials science!

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Corypad, The Tick, metengr.

Have you heard the one about "...the Engineer has a Wife and a Mistress. They each think I'm with the other and I can get on the computer and really get some work done"

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Schetwynd,
Sorry to disappoint you, but my branch of the family arrived in Sydney in 1820 on a convict transport ship. Free transport courtesy of the British Government.
Jeff

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?


Hmmm .... anyone care to guess? Need a clue??

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Years ago there was a significant debate on the net about spam and whether you got spam in free email accounts regardless whether you used them.  I created a couple of accounts to test that out for my own interest (not a scientific study I realize).  One was based on my name and the other one, I used testdog2000 as something out of the oridinary.

I never got any spam in the testdog2000 account till I started using it (as a test) and boom, spam started arriving.  I sort of got to like the handle and use it on a lot of places on the net. TD2K is just an abbreviation of it obviously.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

"GreenHex"

When I was younger and stupider (and during the birth of the Internet as we know it, I thought that I should should dream-up an online name for myself... Green was my favourite colour then (it no longer is, though green does "catch" my eye...) (my initials "mvk" were taken)) and "hex" for something mystical...

Later I found a *few* of "GreenHex"s on the web that is *not* me...

mvk

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I figured it was because you worked for Greenheck.  Go figure.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

notnats:
Thanks for the info.  No disappointment in the least.  I read "The Fatal Shore" years ago and really enjoyed learning about the immigrants to Australia.  Always have enjoyed reading about your unique continent.  I hope to visit some day.  Some of my best friends are Australians, some of whom still live there and some of whom have come to the States.  One who lives in Virginia acquired a blue heeler puppy in June, so she's feeling more at home here with this Australian link.  She loves Virginia, but she does miss home.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I'm curious.  Why do some of us use their real names or variants thereof, while others use something more anonymous?

My thinking: if I'm not willing to sign my name to a post then I probably shouldn't be posting it.  However, I've reconsidered this position occasionally when I have dumb questions which I don't want to ask myself!  (This isn't one of them.)

--Jonathan

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Because we're addicted to the forums.  I go to ETA (Eng-Tips Anonymous) regularly, and we take that anonymous part seriously.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My name can be figured out by anyone who really wants to waste their time doing the research; I just choose not to make it obvious.  So no, I don't post anything that I wouldn't want my boss reading.  Anyone who knows me would be able to identify me in an instant.

I've just never been fond of advertising too much about myself in an electronic forum.  I've almost always avoided using my first name since my first Bitnet forays in the 1980s.  The first handle I selected here was my last name but then I thought better of it.  

But I don't imagine for an instant that I'm truly anonymous here.

I just thought of a new excuse:  there are people here who really are posting messages (especially in the ethics forum) that need to stay anonymous (or as anonymous as this environment can offer).  In a forum where anonymity is discouraged, those folks might be discouraged from making those posts.

Yeah, that's it, it's altruism.  Or force of electronic habit; take your pick.

Hg

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

TheTick Wrote:

>> I figured it was because you worked for Greenheck.  Go figure.

Just did a google search for "Greenheck"... (won't do it again soon).

Vinodh Kumar M.
www.swCP3.com

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

the one I meant:

<www.greenheck.com>

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My "handle" tells forum members far more pertinent information than a name. Information such as:
1. Approximate age. (Long enought to see if my solutions to technical problems "turned out well" over time).
2. Problem solving techniques (which, believe it or not, are often - but not always - still applicable).
3. An indication of first hand understanding of the difference between "accuracy" and "precision".
4. An indication that you can "teach an old dog new tricks" - if that was not so, I would not be participating at Eng-Tips - I would be "computer illiterate".

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I actaully wanted to have a frivolous and flamboyant handle (and of many meanings related to welding and other things!)and got one!

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Just an abbreviation of my job.  Inspection Engineer.  Not very creative, but suitably anonymous.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Boy am I happy to be a part of this forum!!!!!!!


Putting the Human Factor back in Engineering.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Flame
"frivolous and flamboyant handle"
Would that be an oddly shaped handle on a floating candle?

Never Mind.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I refuse to explain how I chose my handle, although after being here for a couple years I wish I would have chosen something a little less obvious.

Chri Sconley

**If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the precipitate.**

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My wife was trying to bare it all for a while to pull me away from my computer. She gave up. She watches "Everybody Loves Raymond" instead... this is how romance dies...

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

   A long time ago, back in the days of electronic bulletion boards, I encounted a user whose handle was Virago.  

   Foolishly, I did know that a Virago was a motorcycle.

                     JHG

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

We've all had those days where we have to Just Keep Givin'er... I guess I was having one when I chose my handle.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

skogsgurra,

In your first post you mentioned a handle, "sailoday28". I don't know this person but my guess is that he is a sailing enthusiast. The ODay part is a sailboat manufacturer and "28" is probably referring to the length of this persons sailboat. Thus he owns a 28' ODay sailboat. Maybe I'm wrong but it was fun trying to guess.

regards,

ietech

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?


    When I first registered at Eng-Tips I was in a hurry, so I didn't thought about the handle very much... and then I simply chose the first letter of the name + the surname (the same as the e-mail addresses and web usernames in my Company...)

    As a nickname I usually sign "NGL", that is the contraction of my first name:
                    Angelo ---> Angiluzzu ---> 'Ngiluzzu  ---> 'Ngilù  ---> 'NGL
where the first steps of the above evolution come from the period when I was working in Sicily as a SAP Consultant    

Bye to all,        'NGL

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

This thread has kind of died out, but I get aksed about mine all the time so I though I would indulge.

Instead of doing an internship during the summer while I was in college, I worked at a pack station in the Eastern Sierra Nevada in CA. Near June Lake.

After working there a couple of years, I had enough seniority to always have the same string if mules. Clyde was my lead mule for 2 years. We got along great, except once he headbutted me and damn near broke my nose.

One webiste I logged onto had the the system where they ask you a canned question to give you your password if you forget it. "Who is your favorite animal?" My answer was Clyde the Mule. It then got shortened to clydemule, and I use that all the time as a logon, because I am to dumb to remember anything else. I get fouled up when they require a number though.

I never felt comfortable using my real name (even though I sign with it every now and again). I also didn't like using my company name when asking what could be perceived as a dumb quesion.

On another note, I am part of HVAC-Talk.com as well, and find there are all kinds of guys who use handles like #1_kick_ass_service_tech_guru_who_knows_everything and then they ask something that you learn in the first day of HVAC 101. I know that you can never learn enough, and the best way to learn is by asking questions, but in the context of a conceited name it seems silly.

I am addicted to this site as well.

Jeff
(aka clydemule)

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

By the time I get to visit Internet forums, after getting home from work, eating dinner, doing homework with the kids, tucking the kids into bed, and chatting with the wife, I am usually ~fastasleep~.  Consequently, incoherent ramblings abound.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

fastasleep
I truly understand...My handle is "pennpoint" "penn" a part of my last name and "point" as I have one, an opinion or view, albeit not always the correct or popular view. Yes! I'll admit I've got my faults. I'm willing to learn.  I'll also say I get alot of information and satisfaction from this site and forum.

Thank You All

Regards
pennpoint

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Real name, minus one first name syllable.

I have absolutely no idea what I'd be using if the TV show "Cheers!" hadn't borrowed it all those years.

Norm

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
Well, yes. I had expected to get some answers to my humble question that started this thread. But I was overwhelmed with the reaction. It is obvious that you like to talk about yourself. I know - I do, too.

After some time, I thougt that it could be interesting to find out how many percent of you that had chosen your pet's name, your old school nickname, a favorite actor's or drink's name, a modification to your initials or simply used your name without modifications.

To make the math real simple, I decided to wait for exactly 100 answers to my question. Then, each answer would be one percent. It cannot get any simpler than that. Can it?

So. Keep the answers coming! When you have delivered 100 answers - I deliver the statistics. But only then!

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

For me, it is none of the above.  My handle was originally bestowed on me by some friends of mine in a CB club in the late 1970's.  The nickname has stuck with me ever since.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Mine's not really worthy of a response - merely an anonymous structural element.  However, I'll do my part to reach that magic number when all will be revealed.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I've been watching this thread for some time now and have resisted posting to it but,---100 handles?  That should take well into next year at the present rate. I'll try to keep up, it takes a long time to load on my old hand cranked PC.

evelrod---Evelrod Racing (ERE). A combination of my wife's name and mine that we used to enter races at  the circuits in Texas where I was racing in 1962.  At that time I thought the name would give us "status"---it didn't but, the name stuck.
My nickname since school is, "Rocket", I tend to be a bit "hyper" at times.

Rod

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Cory = First name
Pad = First syllable of last name

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I picked a handle that has to do with my job - I work as an electrical engineer on ships.  I figured that was more relevant in this forum than my name.  Besides, I like picking out a nickname.

By the way, SlideRuleEra, I went through college with a slide rule, too, even though I didn't graduate till 1978.  (Oh, and a CRC handbook, too!)  It wasn't till my last year that calculators with scientific functions fell into the $20-50 range.  I was paying for my own education (how cheap it seems now!) and trying to save money.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

shipelec - Glad to hear that there are still folks out there that are familiar with that "lost art". I always had a great respect for electrical engineers proficient with a slide rule - lots of calcs with hyperbolic functions, log-log scales, etc.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I can definitely respect it, having tried it all of once.  I had a crash course on my mother's slide rule when the dog (no lie) chewed up my scientific calculator right before my high school finals.  I didn't have the guts to try it live, though, so she dug out her book of log and root tables and sent me off with that instead.  (Overprotective she ain't.)

Hg

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Yeah, I learned how to use a slide rule in high school, but lost touch with the skill in college, since I didn't take much in the way of mathematics.  (Not being an engineer, I come to this site as a drafter, which skill I also learned by hand, but, being an old dog, had to learn the new trick of computer drafting, in the civil engineering/surveying field.  It is a wonderful thing, drafting with a computer, with remarkable capacities, but something of the art of a hand-drafted plan is lost in the translation.)

I'd have to sit down and concentrate for a while to figure out how to use the slide rule again.  But being a fan of useful instruments of all kinds, I'd have fun in the reacquaintance!

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

hmmmm VeryPicky...I wanted to be just Picky but that handle was already taken, however seems inactive..

Putting Human Factor Back in Engineering

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I remember when you changed it.  I looked to see what you had been, but all your posts were retroactively renamed.  Are you gonna morph again?

Hg

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My handle came from the old Beverly Hillbillies TV show.  Some of you may recall that Jethro was always trying new careers.  In one episode, he decided to become a famous movie producer/director and took the name Jethro B. Debodine, after Cecil B. DeMille and his own name in the show, Jethro Bodine.  I liked it, so I use Debodine as my handle.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?


Mine is a nickname since childhood- my last name is Rhodes, and one of the few nicknames I possess that doesn't include some kind of vulgarity, thanks to my "bluecollar" friends.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

HgTX

I don't like when people change names and I guess to be consistent I will retain this one (although I don't find it any good ).

So, to avoid any confusion no more morphing.

Putting Human Factor Back in Engineering

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Skogs, for what it is worth...

RalphChristie - quite obvious my name and surname.
8804428 - Personal number at the Company.
Snuffels - Nickname in Afrikaans - to search for something or a dog's name. (not mine)

I'm totally addicted to this site. [Not married yet, and my dog never complain...   ]

Regards
Ralph

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Waar is jy Ralph?

Putting Human Factor Back in Engineering

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Northern Cape, South Africa. But you'll see it if you click on my handle. (or are you just testing my Afrikaans?)

(Die Kalahari is bykans heeltemal Afrikaans. Sukkel my vrek met die vertaling van Afrikaans na Engels....)

Ralph

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Whenever I loaned tools I would say "it's a boomerang" meaning I wanted them returned. So, it was Boomerang's and the handle stuck.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

TheTick,
Are you realllly THE Tick.  I mean (don't you get tired of people using that expression?  I mean you know, "I mean") Wow that is really cool if that is you in the pics with those cartoon guys.


RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

VeryPicky:
Your post of 9/23 has really sent me off into fantasy land.  I can just see myself sitting at the ol' home PC, bangin' away--API gravity, PLC logic, RS-485, centrifugal pump curves--when my wife comes slipping around the door wearing a smile and that little see-thru.....whewwww, I gotta' go get a cup of coffee.  

Wait 'til the little lady has her mentalpause and the interest in baring it all turns to $#!+.  My advice is to chase her butt down and see if the offer still stands.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Hurray!!!! I didn't miss the 100th post this time.

Question:Why we are fascinated about 100?

Regards,

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
Tadaaa!

Our hundredth answer!

Congratulations for you quark.

You asked a question. Let me put one first. Your question will be answered later on.

Was this a strategic masterpiece on your part? I mean; did you wait until you knew that you would be #100? Or was it just pure luck? And, did you know that there is no prize whatsoever?

Now your question: I figured that it would be interesting to find out how many percent of you had chosen handles based on your name, your pet's name, your profession and so on. So - being a bit on the lazy side - I decided to make things simple and wait for 100 answers. That would take the tedious math out of the task.

Now, that I read all the answers, I realise that some of them are not hard facts. I would characterise them as chit-chat across the fence. My problem is: shall I wait for 100 pieces of hard data or shall I do that math on the 85 or so available "good" postings? Or shall I fake the whole thing and hope that no-one doublechecks my data?

And this so close to Christmas... I have other things to worry about right now :-(

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Wait until there are 100 "answers" to your question.  That will preserve the simple math and take you well past Christmas.

(And sorry for yet another "chit-chat" reply!)

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
Thanks for the tip crossframe. What a nifty way out!

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Well, it's kinda spacey.

I was registering with another forum and needed a name. That forum let you choose these little cartoon pictures for your icon. I looked through them and found a picture of a fish which I thought was appropriate since my last name rhymes with "Trout" (and I've been called Trout most of my life). Not thinking that anybody would get the Trout thing since I don't post my real name, I tried to think of something that sounded like it was water related. "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull sprang to mind (no, I don't know why either), but this was a jazz forum and I figured they wouldn't appreciate the sly reference. So then I tried to think of words that sounded like Aqualung. "Aqueduct!", I thought. Perfect.

Then I proceeded to misspell it. Duh! At least I know it won't already be used when I join other forums.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Quote:

Was this a strategic masterpiece on your part? I mean; did you wait until you knew that you would be #100? Or was it just pure luck? And, did you know that there is no prize whatsoever?

Yep. Yes I was waiting for the 99th post to come. In one of the previous threads I waited till the 90th post and then slept off. When I woke up the next morning, alas! it was 101st post. Yes, it is pure luck then. Ok there may not be prizes now but I can wait till the decennial function of our beloved website.

I think you will get better statistics after getting 100 useful replies. I know that atleast two of my posts are useless

Good Luck,

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My old bosse's name was aslo Carl.  So when outsiders came looking for him my response was, "I was the other Carl"
He's gone now and I have his job now.  So I'm really the only Carl now

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I'm of italian motherlanguage, so please forgive me if I can't express myself well enough.

My nickname comes from a sci-fi world created by Games Workshop and known by the name of Warhammer 40K. In this universe there are Tech-priest of the Machine God that worship machines without knowing how they work (gross simplification).
Since I'm just arrived in the engineering world, and I know very little of what I'm supposed to, I feel like them:)

Greeting from Italy

Che Dio ce la mandi buona, o almeno ce la mandi- Massimiliano Eusebi

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

My first e-mail address was my CompuServe account number - not very memorable, but that's how they did it. When they allowed members to pick a more meaningful address, I chose rjcjr, for Robert James Campbell Jr. When I signed up for monster.com a million years ago, they randomly added a '9' to make it six characters long. I've used it almost everywhere since. It's my longest lasting web moniker.

Rob Campbell, PE
Finite Monkeys - www.livejournal.com/users/robcampbell

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Its where I work...
Shaw Almex Canada

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

It's what I do.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

A moldmaker that I once worked with heard that I was a metallurgist so he said, "yeah, every since I was a kid, I had an urge to work with metals."

OK, I admit it is pretty silly but not nearly as dull as just providing the obvious answer for my handle.

I suppose I could have used "IRmetals" but don't know how to make a dislexic R in cyberspace being barely computer literate since I also grew up on the slide rule. A fellow engineer and I went in together and bought the first Sears hand held calculater for $100.  It could +, -, X, divide, one memory, and I think it had x squared and square root.


RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

TO "Technopriest":

Massimiliano,
        it's good to hear someone else from Italy within this site!!    
       Please take a look at my reply to this post of Oct. 6, 2004 and meet me, if you want, on Forum408 (Valve Engineering...)...

Bye,      'NGL

P.S.: Mi unisco al tuo augurio "Che Dio ce la mandi..."! Ciao da Lugagnano Val d'Arda (PC).

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Hi All
Since school I have been a plastic injection toolmaker, but a couple of years ago made the switch to designing/drawing mould tools. Hence 3D for the CAD systems I was learning when I joined, Kiwi for where I have resided for past 10 years. I now consider myself a New Zealander, and try to keep quiet about my pomy past!!

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Old CB handle.  Bad english for I B(e) Grizzly.  Someone once asked why I used it and before I could answer my brother-in-law broke in and explained:  "If you ever saw him you'd know! He is as big as, as hairy as, as loud as and as mean as any grizzly bear you ever heard of."  Then he had to add I was going gray also.

Enjoying the forum.

Note to VeryPicky.  I agree with blackwed (12/17), and I think the "men in the clean white coats" should come and take you away.  Never disappoint the wife...you will pay and pay and pay....

Ron

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Being in the business for the last twenty years I have worked with various types of CAD packages Started with Drafix, then TurboCAD, Intergraph, AutoCAD, and then finally Microstation. People I work with say I always take the revese polish way of getting things done. Hence cadman turned in to namdac.

Regards,
Namdac

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

sprintcar

what I race on weekends - that was easy!

Keep the wheels on the ground
Bob
showshine@aol.com

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

" Idiot" was allready taken, so I decided to use my name and last initial.:)

brent

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

mine is the first name I ever used on the internet - (hotmail)when you only needed 6 letter, which seems like a few light years back now. It is a chronological selection of my first, middle and last names.    

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Mine's initial-based.  It's cool because in lots of other (non-engineering) forums the chicks think I'm a doctor.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

(OP)
Thanks Folks!

I think that I have got my 100 answers now. So it's time for some home-work so that I can publish the statistics that I promised a few months ago.

First I have to find categories that all your answers can fit into. Not too few and not too many. I guess that ten is a good number. Then sorting and counting and doing the math (if there happens to be more than exactly 100 valid answers - which I fear)and finally write up a report and publish it.

Do not expect to see any result for another week - it makes me weak already...

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I tried resisting as much as possible.
Mine is my name "Joe" and surname "Borg".
This login is the same for FORD supplier portal and this required a numeric entry, that is the "1" at the end.
I am from sunny Malta.

Joe Borg
www.methode-eur.com

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Joe,
    does "Borg" come from the Star TrekTM saga?
    If so, you should be "1 of x" (where x is a natural number representing how many of you have been assimilated  that time... resistance is futile! )...    

Live Long and Prosper,     'NGL

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Anegri,
Borg is a common Maltese surname mainly meaning "a heap".   Although being a Trekie myself I think I fall a bit short from being a borg.

Joe Borg
www.methode-eur.com

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Joe,
       sorry I didn't read with attention your first post (so I thought "Borg" was a nickname, instead of a surname)... Anyway, many thanks for your kind answer!

       In any case, more than one time I read something about the relationship between being an Engineer and loving Star TrekTM: maybe I'll start a thread about that (what would be the proper Forum? "Pat's Pub", for instance?).

       "Sunny Malta" makes me recall when I was working in Sicily and I used to see the planes with the big red Malta cross in Catania airport... I always said "I'll go there, one of these week-ends", but I never did. So, as far as you know... does anybody need a mechanical engineer, a SAP R/3 consultant and/or an AOB (any other business) specialist somewhere there in Malta?
       
       (It's a little self-promotion, I see... but please don't red-flag me: it comes from an hearth wish and desire of sun, more than for making money...!)    
    
A heap of greetings from Italy,               'NGL

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Mine is pretty simple. First name Bill, 6'2", 320 pounds and I live in the bluegrass state of Kentucky, hence the KY.

Bigbillnky,C.E.F.....(Chief Electrical Flunky)

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Can't remember why I used my handle!! Just thought I'd let you all see it to have a bit of a giggle! I might change it to something more imaginitive and deep meaning, then again maby I'm just too lazy.

Remember,

To the untrained eye, "if it's not broke, don't fix it"
To the Engineer, "if it's not broken, it doesn't have enoght parts!".

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

i have to admit mine joins the league of the unimaginative ones. Somehow abbreviated from my initials. I am thrilled by the likes of rnd2,rerig. Theirs are just de bomb. Hail to the eng-tips forum

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I picked mine for the constellation, and because it's difficult to spell properly...keeps me in check.  And it beats the Big Dipper!

I recently had a more difficult name to chose however.  I had to officially declare a dance name this past weekend just prior to a performance.  I had been doing a bit of research for the last 6-9 months to find one that met all the requirements (starts with H like my given name, wasn't currently in use  by any well-known belly dancers in the area, and, had a meaning that fit me)

Hefzibah, an Arabic name that means 'protector' is what I chose from a very long list.  It was actually suggested by the 4-year-old twin daughters of one of the owners of the company I work for.  Co-workers also had some valuable suggestions that were difficult to pass up.  Some of those include;

Hab el Roman (Arabic for seeds of the pomegranate)  too complicated

Helvetica (Latin, from Switzerland)  good name for an architect, but it would be hard to justify for someone of French, Italian, Spanish, Irish and Shawnee origins.

Hysteresis (Greek for a response lag)  too biological, and finally

HAL 9000 (Kubrick for psycho computer)  I liked this one and I'm a huge Kubrick fan.  But somehow listening to an introduction that might sound like, "and now we have HAL 9000 performing her double veil sword dance..."
Something just not right about that.


https://www.tipmaster.com/images/gorgeous.gif




I

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

casseopeia
So your a female structural engineer and a belly dancer, your a brunette, your 110 lbs, 5ft 7in, shaply and your father owns a bar. So cool, I like your handle "casseopeia"

Best Regards
pennpoint

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

casseopeia,
          so are you "of French, Italian, Spanish, Irish and Shawnee origins"?

Thanks,      'NGL

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Let me also guess something.

aha, you are a twinkling star

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Although I hate to dispell any working fantasies, you are pretty close.  Yes I am of French (Alsatian), Italian (Sicilian), Spanish (Castilian), Irish and Shawnee extraction, and I was born in New Orleans.  Unfortunately I don't have the lovely New Orleans accent.

No dad didn't own a bar, but my grandfather, a saftey engineer in New Orleans, used to inspect the clubs in the Quarter (for real, no joke).  I think that's where he met my grandmother, who used to dance in one of the clubs.  

My father was an electrical and petroleum engineer.  After moving around the family for the army, he quit and went to work for Oil companies.  Then we moved around to different places for oil companies.

I am actually a licensed architect, but currently going to school for an engineering degree so that I can be licensed structural engineer here in California.  Last semester I struggled through introductory chemestry (got a B).

I would call my hair color dark chestnut.  It's actually got quite a bit of red (thanks to my red-haired, dancing  grandmother and strawberry blond mother). I'm about 5'-8-1/2" and haven't weighed 110 since junior high school!  

As for shapely, belly dancing will actually reform your body.  It makes you more hourglass shaped. The movements (isolations) are generally controlled by small core muscles and obliques, so you get a lot of definition and toning in  those areas.  And if you are like me, you build most of your muscle mass in quads and gluts.

And I believe I am the ONLY engineer belly dancer in my general vicinity here in Northern California.  In fact, I can think of only one person I've danced with that routinely works with numbers, and she's a CPA.  There are a surprising number of nurses and people in the alternative medical arts.

So, back to work...ugh

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

casseopeia not just a brite star but a constallation.
Ah! I'm impressed. I applaud your efforts. It's good to know there are women who strive to become more than just a mans wife (to be kept).
I bid you good luck and good grades.

From So Cal.
pennpoint
  

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

A combination of 2 song titles by my favorite group Rush-'The Analog Kid' and 'Digital Man' (Signals, 1982).

Started out tinkering with analog electronics as a kid at age 7. Throughout the years, I progressed to digital electronics, microprocessors, computers, and then software design (primarily LabWindows CVI and now LabView).
Now at age 40, I consider myself more of a 'digital man'.

Ahhh, to be analog again......

Wheels within wheels / In a spiral array
A pattern so grand / And complex
Time after time / We lose sight of the way
Our causes can't see / Their effects.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

I am a retired Paratrooper, but now technology has made
us obsolete. (Thank God)

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

unccpe
UNC-Charlotte + PE
I wanted "ThatGuy", but it was already taken............
So in a hurry I chose my school and my title.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

well, this is still going so I thought I might as well add to it.

Mine is not original at all; beginning of my last name, althought I like the ring of it

unccpe:
Fellow UNCC grad

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

vonbad:
What year?

I'm a 1996 grad.  

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

Skoggs you said ............"See? There is a story or some thinking behind all nicknames and handles. We call our electricians "Lysmask" which translates into "Firefly"
Drawing a long bow could it also mean firefry?

The grammar is correct. It has been checked and approved. If it is not what you expect or to your liking you should be aware you are watching an evolutionary process occurring and should either upgrade or remain a boat anchor.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

unccpe,
graduated in 92 EE.  I had a friend who's husband was in arichitecture school around your time frame.  Although, I cannot remember his name right now.

RE: How are handles created? What do they mean?

my nephews when they started to talk would not say : tío abel (uncle abel) but abeltio... and abelito was already taken so... abeltio it is...

thought about using other ones...

hn6-6!q
ssalpeaH
6u!pleq

but may be some people would have difficulty spelling them...
(i know you will decipher them easily... he he he... and  you may even get hooked on this)

+H6!u poo6

:oP

saludos.
a.

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