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

My user name is Mina.
What does that tell you? I use it everywhere I go on the net. If someone has stolen it, or I can't use funny symbols to make it, I choose Rekklass.
Enlighten me

ok - here goes...

Minai implies, perhaps a small person - the theory of "small name implies small person" isn't one I subscribe too, but it seems likely here. Someone who doesn't want to make a huge impression, not the person who'll stand out in the front and entertain.

But then, against than, a name like Rekklass - obviously bringing to mind "Reckless", nope, I think initial impressions are misleading here - what I'm thinking of someone who chose a short name because it's punchy and quick. To the point, direct, not thinking about the consequences too much. The "Tank Girl" of the year 2000... I've leaped to a gender there, mainly because of the "lass" in rekklass, as well as the femininity of the name Mina. That's probably a mistake in this fuzzy online world, but what the heck...

What else can I get? Well, I wonder whether there's any meaning in the "Rekk". Someone who comes from Rekyavik, perhaps, in Iceland? Or an illusion to some book or movie character? As for "lass", well, I guess that hints at a touch of delicacy under the surface and the bluster...

So I'm thinking of a Bjorn lookalike, in a tank, wearing combat trousers and suchlike, with frilly knickers underneath it all... But I think that'll be a stupendous failure this time round...

Wow, that was thorough, worth waiting for.
I am definitely not the person who'll stand out in the front and entertain, but I do like to make an impression, good or bad, I am not that bothered.

Your first impression was right about Rekklass, I chose it from recklass, and changed it a bit to make the Lass stand out, as I am female. And I do like short names.

The dress is almost right, I do wear combats, but mostly jeans, and underneath it all is.... frilly knickers! (well, sort of.)

So, well done, half wrong, half right.
Btw, it's not a tank, it's a Fiat 126. It just sounds like a tank. And handles like a tank.

I use the name JJJHowqua everywhere on the web (although not at this exact moment here). It's never taken, so it's mine everywhere. What meaning of my name?

Go on, hit me with it.

Hi JJJ (may I call you that? ),

The most obvious feature of your username is the triple J. A double letter could be considered a litte unusual, but a triple is starting to get downright weird... Lena would no doubt have her own theory, but I reckon this indicates someone who is very much unconventional - happy to flaunt tradition, though I guess all traditions are easier to flaunt on the web... note that 'J' is a high scrabble value - again implying some eccentricity - note the presence of a 'Q', 'U', and 'W' too - also high scoring. To steal a phrase I've seen here on h2g2 - a member of the Otherwise - or one who wants to be.

The fact that it is a capital triple, rather than a small triple, implies that the weirdness is something which the user is happy to display - rather than something that is ususally kept hidden. Is this someone who's extrovert in real life, or someone who is freed to be extrovert when loose on the web, but normally shyer than that. I'd guess the latter, but that's just a hunch.

Howqua on it's own is quite conventional. The obvious guess as to it's origin is "how" + "qua". My latin is still rusty, but could 'qua' be latin for 'how'? Or perhaps in some other, related language - Italian, or Spanish. Either a classicist, or someone who lives down in the warm climes of sourthern Europe... (well, warmer than here in UK).

JJJHowqua would be prnounced, by me, as 'Joker'. Perhaps a fan of the old Batman cartoons, someone who fancies themselves as an evil, insane, mastermind? Or just someone who thinks of themselves as witty and smart? The other resonance would be the 'joker in the pack' - a wildcard - totally unpredictable. The "it's mine everywhere" does smack of world domination plans, though, so you won't be minding if I pick up the BatPhone, will you? On balance, I'm gonna reject 'joker in the pack', since someone so unpredictable could surely not be relied upon to use the same name thourghout the web... not normal, but balanced within themselves, I think.

JJJ itself is a very short, but punchy name - quick to type for a non touch-typist - but slower for a touch typist. From that I guess that JJJ isn't a touch typist - human selfishness is universal, even on the web... . And a dash of impatience, perhaps?

So, who do we have? A trickster, but one with a few big plans under their sleeve. Short and to the point, but reasonably intelligent to use such a name. Unconventional, but well-balanced, and I'm going to have a stab at a fairly young age, based on the impatience - below 25, shall we say?

May Loki stay a long time by your side, young magician,
Love, Lucinda

Hi Lucinda/MyRedDice! It's been SO long since I visited h2g2 that I've practically forgotten how to navigate the site!!

Nevertheless, it's very cool to discover that name-reading activities are continuing, albeit at a slower, more diginified pace. And you're doing brilliantly ...

Is Lucinda currently in the ascendant in your life?

Slower and more dignified - I like that... it hides the way you analysed practically the entire population of h2g2 in a manner of weeks...

Lucinda's ascendancy occured largely because of http://www.h2g2.com/F16034&thread=56046&skip=380&show=20 - We felt that it would make up for Her being unable to wear nailpolish while in our current summer job...

("there, there, Lucinda - it'll be ok soon - only two more weeks..." *comforts*)

Where have you been? Had fun?

Had fun? We-e-e-e-e-ell. A lot depends on your definition of fun ... CERTAINLY haven't been using any nailpolish, that's for sure! I gave up nailpolish many years ago and now and astonished that there continue to be so many people who wear it by choice ... perhaps that's the operational word, "choice" ...

I guess one part of the recent months was fun -- I published two books, one of them a collection of comic strips -- I used to have a daily comic strip and always wanted to publish a selection of them in book form -- and now I have. But all of this is fairly hard work, I'm not sure that it can be called fun in the unalloyed sense of the word. Yesterday, I was leafing through a book lent to me by a friend, showcasing "boutique" hotels around the world -- small hotels which are appreciated for their design and quirky atmosphere as much as for their location and luxurious fittings -- and felt that in some alternative life, I would like to do a world tour hopping from each one of these hotels to the next ... one of them, in Sweden, is built entirely out of ice!!! It melts each spring and is built anew each winter. I think it mentioned that the mean temperature inside is a steady .4 degrees C! Guests are offered very sturdy winter clothing. And yes, it IS a popular hotel ...

But back to the subject of fun, I figure that it's been a very long time since I did something which was just fun for the sake of fun. Sigh. Maybe this is the curse of being grown up.

But ... there's always h2g2 to come back to, which is GOOD and there's even the new MYST sequel to look forward to (next year, groooooaaaaan). Life is all right. Mag N. O'lia.

I dunno - fun can often be hard work - I call my job fun, despite it being horrendously hard and stressful at times... In fact, sometimes it's even more fun when there's some stress and challenge involved...
Or am I just a workaholic?

Is your daily comic strip online somewhere? I could do with a change from 'Dilbert'...

Why don't you do that world tour? Out of cash? Or out of time?

No, my strip isn't online anywhere -- not even in print, since I discontinued it at the end of '97. The collection is something I've been meaning to print for a long time, just because I didn't want the strip to entirely drop out of existence -- it seems like maybe I had a good idea! I think that strips actually NEED a book-format in order to become part of the vocabulary. It's easier to follow the continuity in a book than in a newspaper, daily. Who knows? If the book does well, I might be encouraged to return to stripping (yes, well --!). If/when it becomes available on Amazon, I'll inform all interested parties ... we've kept the price way down in order to make it easily accessible, so the distributor is feeling pretty confident of good sales. On the other hand, it's quite possible that the strip won't be hugely accessible to people outside the narrow canon of English-speaking Indians. I'll know in a few weeks.

And why don't I engage in frequent and regular world travel, he/she asks? Ah ... well I GUESS the reason may have something to do with time, life, space and money -- all the usual suspects.

Well, having already seen the naughty pix on your homepage( [Broken URL Removed by Moderator] ), I don't think I could cope with the thought of you stripping too...

What? Not interested in heart wood, hmm? *there's no emoticon for a CHEESY grin*

Wow... very good job! Aside from the "Howqua" bit, it all seems very perceptive. (Howqua, as it turns out, is a place I live for a year and was very influencial to me, but no one is expected to know that!)

It all seems pretty true- I am under 25, not a touch typist, possibly someone who is freed to be extrovert when loose on the web, but normally shyer than that, happy to be weird, impatient, oh, and of course I'm "reasonably intelligent".

But as for my location, which you seemed to estimate as somewhere is southern Europe, that's a fair way off. I'm a fair bit more south and on the other side of the world than that. And I never saw the resembalence to "Joker". A whole new side to my name. I'm going to have to think about that.

Thanks, that was great!

Well - 50/50 I guess - just goes to show that you can never beat the original...