Happy to be misunderstood
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Username analysis by Lucinda (AKA MyRedDice) http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U129960
here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A442333
"Specifically, Coelecanths are an order of particularly ugly looking fishes, which are now extinct (less one species). The name comes from the Latin for "hollow spine", presumably because the fish had hollow spines, I guess. So, someone here is marginally obsessed with - either a fisherperson, or perhaps a biologist of some kind. And well read with it too - it's not exactly a wellknown word. If not fish-obsession, it could instead be an interest or an aptitude in Latin - but whichever way, definately a learned user...
As it happens, and as I'm sure the user knows, the correct pronounciation is something like seelukanth, with long 'ee', short 'a' and a very short 'u'. There's a pleasing contrast there between the two pronounciations of 'c', and the whole thing is pleasantly poetic.
The real curiosity is that in both cases, 99.9% of the people who see that name won't spot either the meaning, or pronounce it correctly internally (I have the benefit of a dictionary, which helps... ) - so this is someone who is quite happy to be misunderstood by just about everyone - it seems very self-sufficient: the user's name is pleasing to them, and if nobody else 'gets' it - well, that's their fault isn't it?"
here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A442333
"Specifically, Coelecanths are an order of particularly ugly looking fishes, which are now extinct (less one species). The name comes from the Latin for "hollow spine", presumably because the fish had hollow spines, I guess. So, someone here is marginally obsessed with - either a fisherperson, or perhaps a biologist of some kind. And well read with it too - it's not exactly a wellknown word. If not fish-obsession, it could instead be an interest or an aptitude in Latin - but whichever way, definately a learned user...
As it happens, and as I'm sure the user knows, the correct pronounciation is something like seelukanth, with long 'ee', short 'a' and a very short 'u'. There's a pleasing contrast there between the two pronounciations of 'c', and the whole thing is pleasantly poetic.
The real curiosity is that in both cases, 99.9% of the people who see that name won't spot either the meaning, or pronounce it correctly internally (I have the benefit of a dictionary, which helps... ) - so this is someone who is quite happy to be misunderstood by just about everyone - it seems very self-sufficient: the user's name is pleasing to them, and if nobody else 'gets' it - well, that's their fault isn't it?"
