Secrets Revealed: Why 'Tablesaw'?

[tablesaw]

I get asked this a lot, and it surprises me. I suppose I don't attribute as much thought to screen names as others do.

Short answer: I like the word "tablesaw".

Long answer: A few years ago, I was chatting with my then girlfriend on AIM. It was late for me, and it was later for her, since she was a few time zones ahead. Why was she still awake? She was finishing up a project for a technical theater class, drawing a plan for a set-construction workshop. I volunteered to help. To expedite the process, she'd give me an item that she wanted on her plan, and I'd search the web for examples and relay the dimensions to her. I think I did a few items like this, and one of them was a table saw.

"Hey," thought I, "I like the way that sounds. Tablesaw. Tablesaw. Tablesaw."

A few months later, I was looking to sign on to ifmud, and I was looking for a new ID. I had grown tired of "Kneep!", which I had used since high school. (Some of you may recognize that from my AIM id, the only place I still use it.) I flashed back to that night and how I thought "tablesaw" was a cool word. So I used that as my handle.

I stayed with ifmud for a long time, and the name stuck and proliferated to other sites. Soon, I was meeting people and they were calling my Tablesaw. It's become a real, honest-to-goodness nickname. And there's no reasoning behind it. No anagrams, no personal affinities, no obscure name mutations. It's just a word I liked the sound of.

So, now you know the secret.

WedNYTX: 7:30; WenLATX: 6.

Comments

[saxikath]

Oddly enough, that's much like how I came to be Saxifrage -- in the sense of it mostly just being a word I liked the sound of. I found it in one of my lists of the Victorian language of flowers (and wow, do I need to update that page!). When it was time to choose an NPL nom, I originally wanted to use the flower that meant "you puzzle me," but that turns out to be love-in-a-mist, and that's too clunky for a nom. So I picked another one I liked the sound of.

[katre50.livejournal.com]

I would have just thought you were a huge fan of Red Mars.

[cazique.livejournal.com]

Not-seeming-nearly-as-oddly-anymore, that's how I came to be Cazique as well. Knew the word from its Scrabble significance, liked it, used it as the name of my computer for awhile. When I joined the NPL, I took it as a nom (and also an all-purpose non-name handle online). 7 years later, it's hard to imagine being anything else.

[mlstrm.livejournal.com]

This must be theme day. That's how I picked my nom, too--based on the coolness of the word.

[cnoocy]

Wow, that's just how I... no. No, it's not.
-G2znii

[rfreebern.livejournal.com]

I chose mine because it is an anagram of "be fern err".

[(Anonymous)]

And one more "me too," although in my case I had to make up a word in order to get one with the coolness quotient I desired.

-- Qaqaq

[nothings.livejournal.com]

At least you have a reason, pointless as it is. "buzzard" is inexplicable as it's a ref to something someone called me once, and she has no clue anymore why she called me that.

[ojouchan.livejournal.com]

That is actually a really simple yet sweet story.
Hmm. Minou is the French and Creole word for kitten, and for a woman who is like a kitten. It's also my favorite book character. Yep that's it nothing too amazing. :)

[jdyer.livejournal.com]

I picked 'Ghogg' at random. I was frustrated trying to log into some BBS system where it seemed every name I tried was taken, so I typed Ghogg in and it went.