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

My researcher name - which, when I chose it, was intended to be temporary - seems to have outlived its usefulness. Zem42 is too Guide-related, too unoriginal. We have a lot of Zems.

I normally go by the nick 'lokus' when I'm not on h2g2. But...
What do _you_ think? I'm soon going to become far more involved in the h2g2 community, and I'd like a definite name that I'll never need to change again.

Comments, ideas, suggestions? All are welcome.

Btw, please don't read this and then name/rename yourself 'lokus'. There isn't one on h2g2 yet, and I think I'd like it to be me!

Go for it

After all you can always change it again if it doesn't work

Bald Bloke's right, Zem/Lokus. Why didn't I think of that before you left? Anyway, as long as you don't go back to the misspelled version with the 0 in it, I think it would be eminently suitable.

Either that, or you could be Alhiera Sedai here as well

MaW / Eldhrin Sedai

*drops ten ton weight on MaW's head*

Have at you, sir!
You're both right, of course. I just like affirmation .

btw, the '0' dig is about when I mis-typed the name and left it like that for ages, causing me to look like a wannabe hacker. Such things are best left undisturbed, lest more and heavier weights drop on the heads of certain unnamed persons.

*puts on steel helmet* in case Zem misses his intended target

* dons a diamond-coated steel helmet in case Zem hits his target *

The word "lokus" is one of several synonyms for "toilet" in German.

Perhaps you should bear this in mind. I once heard that the British number plates (just three letters and three numbers, in those days) were carefully censored. For example, the Rumanian word for "lesbian" only has three letters, so this combination was excluded from the list of possibles. This is only one example of many.

However, other countries are obviously not so sensitive. There is a canton in Switzerland which has the initials "VD". (Can't remember exactly what it stands for, although I used to). So, many cars are driving around Switzerland with VD on their number plates. Also in Germany, when the number plate system was reorganised after the war, and everyone was given an abbreviation of the town the car was registered in, the town of Bühl was given BH. This is, in German, the abbreviation for Büstenhalter which means "bra". There was a campaign going on for years to get it changed.

Why am I saying this? I dunno. Just goes to show, what sounds funny or just normal in one language, can have immense connotations in another. But we all know those stories.

Call yourself whatever you want. But I don't recommend changing it. It confuses conversations, when people address you by your name, and later on you have changed it and all your postings in that conversation have a different name over them and the conversation doesn't make sense any more.

I'm not happy with my own name, but would not change it for that very reason. And mine is definitely Guide-orientated.

I agree with TC on this. It *really* confuses people when they come to read backlog. Some backlog is already confusing enough (re: majick forest, no where *did* that extra Zeppo come from?)

VD? hee hee! Venereal Disease - no wonder Switzerland is full of pharmaceutical companies.

How about calling yourself "Lokus (formerly Zem42)" for a while?

***B

That's the best way to change, certainly.

And I think most names are going to cause problems in some language or another. Mine's been thought to mean "mother" before (apparently some Americans pronounce "Ma" and "Pa" as "Maw" and "Paw").

You could get around that problem by choosing a name no one can understand, like mine.

Ah, but when you go to meetups you really need to be able to pronounce it... of course, if it's something like ";lkh;poihy;oih" but it's just pronounced "lukh-poi-yoih" or something, that's easy and an interesting talking point for people who pop by your Space...

hmm. A synonym for toilet. Might have to rethink that one, then.

Of course, there are words like that in every language. There are German words that mean completely different things in English... I've often seen people with nicks that are funny when they remain untranslated.
I'll probably stick with it (or a corruption of it), though.

As for confusing people... no-one knows who I am. Seriously. And I felt a little stupid at the London meet with zem42 as my name.

Actually, there's no-one on h2g2 called 'locus'. That might work. Or does it mean 'brothel' or something in German?

Any more comments are always welcome...

locus is a Latin for 'place',
and mathematese for getting to draw pictures in an exam.

There should quite definately be a in there.

After the second line, of course

I originally derived the name 'lokus' from two words: locus (mathematical and poetic meanings) and Loki (the Trickster of Norse myth). But just 'locus' seems ok.

There are, strangely, two Locusts on h2g2. I don't understand some people...

Don't worry, none of the rest of us do either, I'm sure.

Just don't start experimenting with rhymes and calling yourself "Hocus-Pocus", please.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A498675

Here I have listed loads of words that can easily cause confusion in translations. There is plenty of material for a follow-up in different languages, so if anyone has any suggestions, please deposit them at my space, or here. (French next)

Thats why nice short three letter words are good, hard to confuse...and any way my name is nice and symetrical its a work of art really