What’s in a name?
Please note: I haven’t checked e-mail in about three weeks, partly because I can’t be on my usual e-mail checking machine. I’ll try to get to it this weekend. Now that’s out of the way…
Rocky Rook was curious about this site’s tagline, the Shawn Bradley of Weblogs. I’m going to try to make this as un-boring as possible, because it’s not that good of a story come to think of it.
For reference, I have inserted a picture of Shawn Bradley below. (He’s the dunkee, not the dunker.)
The first incarnation of this site was back in late 2006. The name “Liquid Egg Product” came from the cartons of…substance…that McDonald’s uses for some of their egg-containing breakfasts. (I’m forever grateful to the McD’s employee who thought it was a good idea to set the carton close enough to the counter that the customers could read it.) Since blogs are “supposed” to have a tagline, and I was pretty sure the blog would be filled with all sorts of foolishness, the tagline became “The Ronald McDonald of Weblogs”.
My web host accidentally destroyed my database in May 2007, so down went that site. I switched to WordPress, and decided to change the tagline. Why?
Mainly because of Dan LeBatard, who hosts a sports talk radio show that is often unbelievably dumb and inane (which I admit, will occasionally listen to and enjoy). One of his promos has him as McDan McLeBatard hosting “the Ronald McDonald of radio shows” or something like that.
There’s no way I was going to have the same tagline as him.
Shawn Bradley fit very well because he’s:
- white
- skinny
- awkward
- mediocre
- not very tough
- easily mockable
- only plays basketball effectively if everyone else is shorter
All of which describe either me as a person or this website (usually both).
I want to hear about how some of you came up with your names (in some cases, what the deuce do they mean?). Where does gorckat come from? Wahrheit sounds German for something-or-the-other. And we never got an explanation about the now defunct ookweb… whatever the deuce it was. And so forth.
Wahrheit is German for “truth.” I started using it as a lark, figured it would be controversial, but most people haven’t seemed to care
Nowadays I just write under my own name but I’ve still got it on my Blogger account, it’s kind of like an alter ego that I don’t want to lose.
Comment by Wahrheit | 1 February 2008
Hmmm, I probably could have looked that up myself, ja?
People didn’t care because people don’t know what it means. But now…expect major controversy after your revelation!
Comment by Donnie | 1 February 2008
donnie you also play basketball effectively when you headbutt people, sending them flying and giving them a knee scar they have to this day. I think of you fondly every time I see my scar.
my blog doesn’t really have a name but it has two tag lines, “gindippy likes to paly golf” and “freak monkey of information”. Gindippy came from a shirt my brother used to wear when he was a little kid. It was from Taiwan and it had a green Snoopy and a red Woodstock playing golf. For whatever inexplicable reason, the makers of the shirt decided to re-name Snoopy (or Woodstock, it’s unclear) Gindippy. And they spelled “play” wrong. We laughed about that shirt for years. I don’t know where it is now.
freak monkey came from Carlos. There was this one night we were at dinner and we were talking about something random, and suddenly he said “you’re such a freak monkey of information”. I just thought it was funny.
Comment by annie | 1 February 2008
I chose Castling Queenside because I’m a woman playing a game that’s about 97% male. Not real creative, but first thing I came up with when I started it.
Comment by Polly | 1 February 2008
Let me explain; ookwelbekendalsemc is Dutch translation for “also known as EMC”. And it’s pasted together. No spaces. the EMC is a story of it’s own but i don’t have time to get into that right now. Maybe sometime i will. But it’s nothing that will help you live a more meaningfull life…
Comment by Edwin | 2 February 2008
“Welcome to my cave” isn’t exactly a tagline like the others I guess. I didn’t know blog’s were supposed to have one. I just picked mine because it sounded Batman-ish and maybe cool. BTW did we get Polly’s FICS name yet?
Comment by l3rucewayne | 2 February 2008
gorckat was originally a handle used for my daughter 3-4 years ago and she wanted a Neopets account. The rec team she was a cheerleader for was the GORC Wildcats, so I combined them in a clever and subtle way (see if you can figure out how!).
My Neopets are under gorcdaddy, and then I stole gorckat for other sites.
Comment by gorckat | 2 February 2008
Polly - I think Castling Queenside is elegant and clever.
Comment by Derek Slater | 2 February 2008
I agree that Castling Queenside is a good name. But I’m mainly glad Polly grabbed it before some male chess player who likes to crossdress did.
There’s one thing I need to clarify: I started working for the website AFTER the Shawn Bradley tagline was chosen, so of course all those characteristics of Bradley don’t have anything to do with me. Well, I AM white and skinny, but not any of that other stuff.
Comment by The Mascot | 2 February 2008
Great post Donnie … thanks for explaining.
My handle is just a combination of Rocky Balboa and the stalwart chess piece. Every now and then, someone comments on my handle on FICS. Many of the comments come from people who think I have an association with Rochester, NY. Some think I like the ice cream Rocky Road. But the simple matter of the fact is: I like the greatest fictional sports hero.
Comment by Rocky | 3 February 2008
@Annie: You still have a scar? Yeah, you probably told me that a while back…you freak monkey.
It IS easier to play aggressively when you’re 5′8″, 130 lbs (170cm, 60kg) and you’re still one of the biggest people on the court.
That shirt sounds brilliant. They surely don’t make it anymore, and it’s nowhere on the Net. Just did Google and Yahoo! searches, and you have a monopoly on the phrase “gindippy likes to paly golf”.
@Polly: If it makes you feel any better, the USCF is now only 96% male. It’s good enough to get the point across, although I’ve never seen you actually castle Queenside in any of your games.
@Edwin: In some ways, I regret asking you. Some things, it’s better to leave unknown–it gives a little bit of mystique. (Of course, the fact that it was Dutch means it wasn’t mysterious at all; I just didn’t know the language.)
No need to explain EMC; Edwin as a bit of a “man of mystery” will be very charming for the ladies!
@l3rucewayne: “Welcome to my cave” is exactly what a tagline is. And, of course, fits perfectly for you.
@gorckat: You stole your daughter’s name. I’m not sure how to react to that. But at least it makes sense now!
@Derek: [He explains what Reassembler means in his about page.]
@Mascot: You’ll also never be as rich or as famous as Shawn Bradley, so chew on that, egg.
@Rocky: You probably saw the most recent Rocky movie? That didn’t taint his mythos somewhat? I’ve only seen the first one, but it was as great as people say.
Comment by Donnie | 3 February 2008