h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bels, I had no idea. I read what you have written compulsively, and I will continue to do so. It is important to other people, as well as to you.

It seems trite to say "take care", but - there - I have said it anyway.

B

Thanks, Ben, I will. You take care too. I had an idea you might have been at the meet recently, but somehow our paths didn't cross. Ships that don't pass in the night, eh? Or maybe you weren't there at all. Oh just ignore me, I'm rambling again. Now I can tell you, young lady, that when I was a lad things were really tough, we didn't have all this new-fangled...

Hey - I have changed my name because "girl" really IS no longer applicable.

I had planned to go to the meet, but didn't make it in the end for a variety of reasons.

Now why did I think you lived in New Zealand?

B

PS - I thought the point that you are a well person who happens to have cancer was very well made. I have had a number of friends who have had cancer, and they fall into two categories, the well people who have cancer and the people who are ill. It is good to know that you are the former.

Oh I'm definitely the former - just partly out of service during routine maintenance. If it didn't sound so trite you could say that I have cancer but cancer doesn't have me. Oh well...

Anyway, Ben girl, the advantage of the online thing is that you can always stay a girl. I just can't see you as a 'broad' at all. Sorry.

A nice way of putting it.

It took me a long time - well over a year - to settle on a new name. I rejected a whole variety of other suggestions, though I quite like "a bint called Ben". I will clearly be agcB for years to come though, which is fine.

B

For 'girl', thesaurus has:

babe, baby doll, bird, blonde, bobby-soxer, boytoy, broad, butterfly, canary, chick, coed, cupcake, cutie, dame, damsel, daughter, deb, debutante, doll, female, filly, gal, jail bait, lady, lassie, mademoiselle, maid, maiden, minx, miss, missy, mouse, nymph, nymphet, piece, queen, schoolgirl, she, sis, skirt, spring chicken, teenybopper, tomato, tomboy, virgin, wench, witch, woman

And for 'female':

amazon, babe, beauty, broad, cheesecake, chichi, cupcake, cutie, dame, doll, dowager, duchess, femme, filly, fox, frail, gal, gentlewoman, girl, hussy, kid, lady, madam, mama, matron, old bat, old lady, old woman, petticoat, piece, pinup, seductress, she, she-stuff, shrew, siren, sis, skirt, temptress, ten, tomato, weaker sex, wench, wren

Maybe one or two of these has the 'edge' that you seem to be looking for to express your online persona. Far be it from me to hazard a guess at that...

I am sure I have been 'a biddy called Ben' at some time or other. I like the idea of being 'a temptress called Ben'!

The main reason I used my real name in the first place was that any other name I chose would have labled me too much, and over-emphasised one part of my character or interests at the expense of another. And I hadn't got a handle at online handles at that point. If I'd had my wits about me I'd have chosen a nice girls' name and pretended to be a nice girl.

As it is, at 41, I think the term 'broad' suits me. It has a certain class and sassiness that I aspire to, a certain feistyness that I definitely have, and it is much less definite about age. There is a slight pun there too, since I go abroad so much. And I have a weakness for bad puns.

Are there any good online thesauri? I ditched my copy of Roget's and started using the one at www.yourdictionary.com (or is it www.mydictionary.com?) but then they started charging for it.

B

A935570

Thanks. I will use them next time I need them.

B