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

RF - yes, he is Percy "Thrills" Thrillington, or something similar.

Funny thing, you know how you sometimes assume a gender based on someone's online name? Well with some of these fickle-named people I hadn't realised who it was and had assumed a different gender.

Damn.

So that's why you kept asking me what colour pants I was wearing.

B

The initial change came out of the moderation issues that hit the site during the Gulf War.

Nowadays I just rather like the sound of the name and the shape of the word.

(Somewhere or other I've got a list of translations into most of the Nordic and Baltic languages. So its current French translation should not be seen as a permanent fixture.)

Della wrote: "I was Della from June 2001 to January 2004. *Two and a half years.* Then, after getting a lot of grief from Hoo/Member/Number/now known as SoRB) I changed my name to Adelaide. [...]

That's the truth of it."

Sorry. Calm now.

The truth, but as is usual with Della, not the WHOLE truth. Skips, for instance, lightly over the *reason* for any grief she might have got (e.g. for seriously threatening another h2g2 user), skips lightly over having had a whole other account under the name "Adele the Divided" that she dishonestly tried to pretend was her sister, then denied she'd tried to pretend was her sister, etc., and skips lightly over a period of several months in which her name seemed to change almost weekly specifically to make it impossible for people who didn't know her to pin anything she'd ever said on her.

I bring this up not to rake up old muck but to point out that if you're looking for someone who has changed their name a lot, Della's name history is FAR more entertaining and varied than she is letting on.

(My own is rather duller - I was "Hoovooloo", then for quite a while I was various variations on "Hoo", e.g. "Hoo let the dogs out?", "Hoo tieandtheblowfish", "Hoo Verdam" etc., then I got suspended for a week (or was it a month? Can't remember) and when I came back I decided to ditch the whole "Hoo" thing and leave previous disagreements behind. Hence the current monicker, which aside from an anagrammatic interlude as "Slab of no joker" has remained unchanged for quite some time now. I also, for reasons too tedious to enumerate, went for a while under a different account which at its most active was named "Frumious Bandersnatch". There. Bored? I am...)

SoRB

"Meanwhile, Nos. 1 and 3 on the list are often still called Master B and Mina."

There are reasons which I won't go into about why I changed my names, but I chose Naim towards the end of the anagram thing (which hacked me off no end) as it would appear to blend in with the whole stupid anagram thing (did I mention I didn't like that?) and then just didn't change it back.

If I mention myself in a message I still call myself Mina, but other people have called me all three, plus the occasional use of my real name which I won't mention here simply because I dislike it.

I've joined a camping club which my parents are in, and I've had to use my real name for that so as not to confuse people, but I really hate using it. I'm Mina now - it would just annoy my dad too much to push it when family are around.

Shouldn't it then be change spotting leopards?

Me: >I remember Gosho, but how would I know BH Calcutta<

Add "was the same person" to that.

BH: >*Pedantically changes the subject*<
Kelli: >Jack was asking us to spot the changers wasn't he?<

The subject title was deliberately amibiguous, depending on your attitude to hyphenisation: tree-using felines who change their markings, or an invitation to detect tree-using felines who change. Then someone changed leopards to leotards, which reminded me of a Not the Nine o' Clock News sketch back in the day.

Xanatic: >Shouldn't it then be change spotting leopards?<

The only meaningful interpretation of this is 'tree-using felines capable of detecting change.' Which is a bit bonkers.

Bureau Gris: >(Somewhere or other I've got a list of translations into most of the Nordic and Baltic languages. So its current French translation should not be seen as a permanent fixture.)<

I've also translated my name into various languages in the past, but I don't think I actually changed my handle.

I actually changed mine because I was sick of sounding like a w*nker.



Not that that's worked, mind you.

B

Well, you still have 'beater' in there, don't you

Oops

<Shouldn't it then be change spotting leopards?<

The only meaningful interpretation of this is 'tree-using felines capable of detecting change.' Which is a bit bonkers.>>

Howzabout: 'Replace tree-using felines which are exuding small quantities of blood'?

Not something that can be used very often, but grammatically viable.



Oh, err... sorry, did I say that out loud!

It could mean "swaps tree-using felines playing snooker"

B

>> Well, you still have 'beater' in there, don't you

*giggles*



>> So that's why you kept asking me what colour pants I was wearing.

No sweetie, that's because they think that you're me. Filthy minded, and called Ben, you'd understand why they'd get confused!

My knickers are black, for the record, and usually a bit lacy.

SoRB, my name doesn't change that much. It's always Ben, apart from when I went all minimalist and called myself B (and anagramaticised it into an infinity sign. I can't be @rsed with explicit gender-clues these days. You either met me and recognise me for the deviant pervert I am or asssume that I am some other deviant pervert entirely. I honestly don't mind which any more.

B

"My knickers are black, for the record, and usually a bit lacy. "

I demand proof!

B

Would testamonials do?

D'you mind? I'm eating.

They are very nice knickers, BH. Clean on every day, laundered with powder that smells of Spring Flowers or Summer Freshness. Not nasty at all! They've had compliments.

No just the pants; no need for mens dangly bits.