recursive
@recursive

GuyGirl who uses an incredibly common computer science term as a pseudonym, starting on EFnet a quarter century ago and then decides whether or not to use your service based on whether that name is already taken.



selectric
@selectric

guygirl who uses an old trademark as a pseudonym, starting ~a decade ago, and then is overjoyed when she doesn't have to append some extra numbers on the end on a new service


kukkurovaca
@kukkurovaca

person whose pseudonym is a seemingly unique string that is an in-joke with exactly one other person derived from insomniacally attempting and failing to recall a passage from the Hitopadesha1 whose on-the-fly translation for Sanskrit homework they had comedically mangled some time prior as "dog say: repetition of my business how by you doable", producing in the end a new string that, while technically grammatically possible, probably does not exist anywhere in the corpus (and would mean something different), making it surprisingly convenient as a username


  1. Didactic animal stories in the same intellectual genealogy as Aesop's Fables




Today I can see that your look is especially sad
And your arms are especially fragile, as if made of chaff.
Listen, my dear: far away, by the shores of Lake Chad,
Roams the exquisite giraffe.

It was granted the gift of proportion, voluptuous grace,
And its skin is adorned with a pattern remarkably fine:
Only the moon, smashed to pieces, descended from space
To rock in lake water, could dare try to match its design.

From afar it resembles a caravel’s colorful sail,
And its gait is as smooth as the frigatebird’s radiant flight.
I know the world sees many wonders in all their detail
When it takes to a grotto of marble for refuge at night.

I know all those stories of maidens who’ve never been kissed
And of passionate princes who rule a mysterious plain,
But you have inhaled for too long the lugubrious mist,
You no longer desire to believe anything but the rain.

And how can I tell you of faraway creatures that pad
Among tropical palms, among flowers too fragrant by half…
You’re crying? But listen: far off, by the shores of Lake Chad,
Roams the exquisite giraffe.

-Nikolai Gumilev (tr. Stephen Dodson)

(from languagehat)