So, Who the Heck ARE You, anyway?

[LittleMe Jewell]

25 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

I noticed last night while glancing at my friend list that one of my friends changed his name, so I looked at his contact card in my inventory and it still showed his original name. I need to remember to check again later to see if it ultimately changes. 

(The name changes do seem to generally be taking effect very quickly after the requests are made, or so I've heard from one of my alts.)

I'm fairly anti-social and thus don't monitor my Friends list much or even look at it much. I'm not one to initiate conversations much. This will end up confusing me all to heck.

Maybe when I see names on the list that I don't recognize, I'll just start sending "Who the heck are you" IMs.

[kali Wylder]

 

4 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

I really don't know why I read it as a soft "ch", but I did. It'll take a while to adjust my inner voice. 

I've known for years that the correct pronunciation is seeker, but for some reason, I still see seecher (rhymes with teacher)

[Anna Nova]

As you'll see, I decided to do it.  Anna2358.Resident is now Anna Nova, the new me!

No more numbers!!!

[Tari Landar]

4 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

Of course this will still be done while thinking my name is pronounced SIGH-ker instead of Seeker,

Oh my, I've actually been pronouncing your name right this whole time. I rarely ever get names right

carry on...I'm just gonna sit over here amused at myself 😄

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

28 minutes ago, Anna Nova said:

As you'll see, I decided to do it.  Anna2358.Resident is now Anna Nova, the new me!

No more numbers!!!

And it fits you well, too.

[kali Wylder]

Many's the time I wished I could fix my name to a capital K for Kali.  But it's just not worth $40 to me.

[Anna Nova]

55 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

Many's the time I wished I could fix my name to a capital K for Kali.  But it's just not worth $40 to me.

Just after I pushed the button to pay my $40 +VAT (48), I suddenly worried that I had screwed that up.  But by a miracle, I didn't.

[Lindal Kidd]

12 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

That's a new one.  (To me anyway.) Usually people want to make it German... I only know that because I used to go to concerts with voice enabled, and when musicians were calling out who was there it was always SIGHker after a LOT of fumbling.   

The inadvertent spelling error (should be Siecher, for one) is now so ingrained into my SL experience there is no way I'd change it now.

That little spelling error is what's causing my mental mispronunciation!  I "hear" Seicher as "Sigh-ker", and Siecher as "Seeker".

I shall endeavor to mend my manner of thought.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Lindal Kidd

[Seicher Rae]

3 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

That little spelling error is what's causing my mental mispronunciation!  I "hear" Seicher as "Sigh-ker", and Seicher as "Seeker".

I shall endeavor to mend my manner of thought.

Yup, the old ei/ie thing is what makes it "German." After nearly 11 years, I still often have to think about how to spell my own name because of that snafu.  Spelling matters! Even on made up words!  ETA Yeah, you wanna get it right so that when you are thinking "Oh ffs Seicher" that it is "Oh ffs Seeker." 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Seicher Rae

[Lindal Kidd]

I'm having some uneasiness about the whole Return of Last Names business.  When it was announced, I was very happy...I'd never liked the Display Names and the "Resident" workaround.

But now that it's here...

One of my oldest friends, Honeybear Lilliehook, changed her name to Honey Crisp.  And she noted that in her Profile, which I thought was very kind of her.  Even so, I experienced a little of the same cognitive dissonance that hits me when some stranger in RL sits down at the keyboard of an avatar I've been interacting with.  Even when they tell me "Lindal, I'd like to let my friend take over here for a while.  Can you show her a little of Second Life?" it's a weird and surreal experience.

Suddenly, I don't know WHO anybody is.  I feel that my world has torn loose from its moorings and has been set adrift.

I KNOW that's irrational.  But still.

[HillaryHijinks]

5 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Suddenly, I don't know WHO anybody is.  I feel that my world has torn loose from its moorings and has been set adrift.

...sets you on fire.

[Lindal Kidd]

Say, thank you kindly, stranger!

[kali Wylder]

35 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Suddenly, I don't know WHO anybody is.  I feel that my world has torn loose from its moorings and has been set adrift.

I KNOW that's irrational.  But still.

I know that feeling!  I've felt it when I voiced with someone who I'd been text only friends with for a long time and his voice changed my whole perception of him. It's very disconcerting, but fortunately, for me anyway, it didn't last.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

20 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

It's occurred to me that, as people now begin to change their names, their monikers on the forum are going to change too.

Which is going to make it difficult to know who is yelling at me sometimes.

So, if you USED to be "Madelaine McMasters," but are now going by "Hillary Hijinks" instead*, maybe you can tell us here what name we've known you as before you shelled out your US$40!

 

 

*Totally random example: "Madelaine McMasters" just kind of came out without thinking. But wouldn't it be cool if she actually was called "Hillary Hijinks"????

I have no intention to change my name

Edited April 14, 2020 by Tarina Sewell
Untill such a time as LL decides to use Handmaiden

[Joe Huntsman]

Yes, I am an alt.  No one would know my old name anyway (JosephFibonacci) but I paid for a last name.  Yay!

I picked Joseph originally because it is just an average name and Fibonacci because I am a math nerd.  So going with a new name, stick with Joe.

I looked through the list and saw Dallas. Yes!  A good name for a Texan.  Boom.  Grabbed it and done. 

...

So why does the name sound familiar?  Someone said something about it in world too ... so I Googled it up and ...

*****

/headdesk

So now ... do I:

• Live with it?
• Buy another name change?
• Become the most flaming drag queen in SL out of spite?
• "Kill" this account?

 

Anyway, take this as a lesson, kids.  30 seconds of research can save your alts!

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

16 hours ago, HillaryHijinks said:

Are you serious?

Wow someone with a creepier forum picture than mine.

[CaerolleClaudel]

8 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

Well, I wanted it to be Seeker, but thought spelling it out properly as Seeker was too... New Age icky or something. So I got "clever" and played with the way in English you can get the same pronunciation with various combinations. It should be the old i before e except after c rule, but I can't spell and so I misspelled my made up spelling.

I didn't realize that you couldn't fix names after you made them official otherwise I might have been more careful. I also might have checked to make sure it wasn't weird in other languages. I learned early on that seicher is French for cuttlefish, which is weird but not horrible. I only found out about four years ago that in some dialect on one side of some German/Swiss Alp that it is a pretty nasty sexual slur for a female. Which explains why in my early days I kept getting lewd remarks from horney German avatars.

Funny, I always think 'Sicker' in my head! 😉

(not really but thought you might find that funny)

[Ardy Lay]

27 minutes ago, Joe Dallas said:

Yes, I am an alt.  No one would know my old name anyway (JosephFibonacci) but I paid for a last name.  Yay!

I picked Joseph originally because it is just an average name and Fibonacci because I am a math nerd.  So going with a new name, stick with Joe.

I looked through the list and saw Dallas. Yes!  A good name for a Texan.  Boom.  Grabbed it and done. 

...

So why does the name sound familiar?  Someone said something about it in world too ... so I Googled it up and ...

*****

/headdesk

So now ... do I:

• Live with it?
• Buy another name change?
• Become the most flaming drag queen in SL out of spite?
• "Kill" this account?

 

Anyway, take this as a lesson, kids.  30 seconds of research can save your alts!

Ouch.

[CaerolleClaudel]

5 hours ago, Anna Nova said:

As you'll see, I decided to do it.  Anna2358.Resident is now Anna Nova, the new me!

No more numbers!!!

You'll always just be a number to *us*, Anna. 😉

[Lyssa Greymoon]

28 minutes ago, Joe Dallas said:

So now ... do I:

• Live with it?
• Buy another name change?
• Become the most flaming drag queen in SL out of spite?
• "Kill" this account?

Buy another change to “Steve”. Or open a ticket and claim “Joe” was a typo, and could they please fix it. Because you totally meant to type “Steve”.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Lyssa Greymoon

[CaerolleClaudel]

2 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

I "hear" Seicher as "Sigh-ker", and Seicher as "Seeker".

OK, I have looked at this ten times, and I feel pretty sure those are both the same word...

[CaerolleClaudel]

2 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Suddenly, I don't know WHO anybody is. 

Sorry, but other than the people you knew IRL behind the avis, you really never did. And how well do any of us really know anyone?

[CaerolleClaudel]

5 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

Buy another change to “Steve”. Or open a ticket and claim “Joe” was a typo, and could they please fix it. Because you totally meant to type “Steve”.

As a Fifth Element fan, I vote for Corbin instead of Steve.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

38 minutes ago, Joe Dallas said:

Yes, I am an alt.  No one would know my old name anyway (JosephFibonacci) but I paid for a last name.  Yay!

I picked Joseph originally because it is just an average name and Fibonacci because I am a math nerd.  So going with a new name, stick with Joe.

I looked through the list and saw Dallas. Yes!  A good name for a Texan.  Boom.  Grabbed it and done. 

...

So why does the name sound familiar?  Someone said something about it in world too ... so I Googled it up and ...

*****

/headdesk

So now ... do I:

• Live with it?
• Buy another name change?
• Become the most flaming drag queen in SL out of spite?
• "Kill" this account?

 

Anyway, take this as a lesson, kids.  30 seconds of research can save your alts!

I know exactly how you feel. When I first created my name in 2008, I thought . . . choose something interesting, distinctive . . . with a different kind of "look" and a certain exoticism about it.

Imagine my utter horror when, later, I googled "Scylla" and found images like this:

 More seriously . . . while part of me loves the idea of turning your avatar into a sort of running parody that mocks the actual "Joe Dallas," that would probably get boring pretty fast. Maybe just add a note to your profile explaining that you aren't homophobic, and that any resemblance to the real life guy is purely (and literally) accidental?

Sort of the same way I use mine to insist that I'm not actually a sailor-devouring monstrosity of horror.

Occasionally, someone even believes me.

[ShereeHoneyflower]

It will be interesting to see which names become the most popular. Some of the names seems childish to me but they don't bother me. It is Second Life and we are here to have fun.

If at some point we can pay to include any last name or if Honeyflower were a name, I'd pay. I'm too invested in Honeyflower to have any other name. I look forward to seeing these new names waddling about SL. ♥