Whence your moniker?

[Beardy]

While it is convenient to have a simple unique moniker for modern internet use, could I recommend not being lumbered with plosives as initials? It takes so much time when talking to call centres.

I'm burdened with having the same sound at the end of my first name (Tim) and beginning of my surname (Melville), which means I sound like a twat when I enunciate it clearly enough to separate the two parts...

I ALWAYS automatically spell my surname because of the combination of soft sounds in the middle 'Coombs, that's C double oh em bee esss, No eee'. Dr Beardy (Mrs) learned very early in our married life (we married when it was more normal to take your husband's name, something she has regretted almost since!) to do the same.

[Basil]

About 25 or so years ago, Mrs B was chatting with other mums at the primary school gates. "The bloke on a bike" came up in conversation.  Mrs B soon realised they meant me.  (Regular utility cyclists were much less common in those days)
I adopted the name when I joined whatever that magazine forum was called.  I'd been my real name on UKRC.
When ACF came along I became Basil W Brush as a sort of parody of the then POTUS G W Bush, but I doubt many people got that.
At the end of GWB's tenure in office I needed to change, but as people were calling me Basil on forum rides etc as it made life easier when there were at least 5 other riders named John, I kept the name.

One of the highlights of my life was when I was on a pootle with you Basil and I twigged that you were That Bloke Off UKRC Who Rides Into Canals.

This comes up very often.  I'm a bit concerned that my only memorable achievement in life is to be 'That bloke that rode into canals a lot'.   

[Oscar's dad]

About 25 or so years ago, Mrs B was chatting with other mums at the primary school gates. "The bloke on a bike" came up in conversation.  Mrs B soon realised they meant me.  (Regular utility cyclists were much less common in those days)
I adopted the name when I joined whatever that magazine forum was called.  I'd been my real name on UKRC.
When ACF came along I became Basil W Brush as a sort of parody of the then POTUS G W Bush, but I doubt many people got that.
At the end of GWB's tenure in office I needed to change, but as people were calling me Basil on forum rides etc as it made life easier when there were at least 5 other riders named John, I kept the name.

One of the highlights of my life was when I was on a pootle with you Basil and I twigged that you were That Bloke Off UKRC Who Rides Into Canals.

This comes up very often.  I'm a bit concerned that my only memorable achievement in life is to be 'That bloke that rode into canals a lot'.   

As notable lifetime achievements go it could be worse!  Be proud 

[Kim]

It's not just canals though.  Who's got that Sands of Doom GIF?   

[Basil]

It's not just canals though.  Who's got that Sands of Doom GIF?   

Not me unfortunately.  I seem to have lost it.

[Vince]

Because only my mother and former employers call me Vincent.

[slope]

Only in minor part due to Alan Rickman's 1982 unforgettable left eyebrow slimeball masterclass telething. Plus skiving off Secondary Modern Science classes, taught by a halitosisised from hell, sadistic, scary weird man - either did extra Art classes with Sydney, a 6' 4" tall Canadian woman who wore tweeds and was a fabulous potter (and teacher), or just went for a smoke behind the bike shedS. There are a few other reasons too

[Jaded]

It's not just canals though.  Who's got that Sands of Doom GIF?   

Not me unfortunately.  I seem to have lost it.

[Basil]

Hurrah. 

[Jakob W]

Another person with a certain lack of imagination here; I think when I signed up I had the impression that the forum convention was real-ish usernames.

Elsewhere I am Thrustvector, on account of having spent a fair amount of time researching planes and jet engines and things in personal & academic capacities.

[SoreTween]

A friend one day exclaimed "oooh me tween" as he dismounted at the end of a ride, explaining he was rather uncomfortable between his <redacted> and his <redacted>.  That was back when I lived in sniffing distance of Gatwick.  After moving away despite the cycling in the Forest of Dean being one of the draws for me I hardly touched a bike for 3 years.  Then I happened upon TG's first effort late Feb 2015 and soon after I discovered you lot and thence Audax.  Inspired to get back on my bikes I was going through the phase of working up the callus down there when I signed up.
So pretty much, I nicked it.

[Wombat]

You have to be ancient to understand mine. 

There used to be a children's TV programme with "Auntie Jean" and some other stuffed animals including a particularly thick wombat called Willy Wombat, who had an endearing? habit of falling asleep during a conversation.

About the time that my friends and I were aware of this programme, I used to work physically quite hard, as a car parts van delivery driver (in a gap in my proper career of designing buildings) and used to fall asleep when we were all hanging out together allegedly having fun, so I'd keep missing things. One of the kind folk therefore called me "Wombat" and it stuck.  I'd hazard a guess this was around 1976-ish.

[Ian H]

Ian, who possibly isn't Ian, nicked Ian, so, although I am (probably) Ian, I couldn't be (just) Ian.

[rafletcher]

I wonder how dim came upon his (I assume) username. 

[Moleman76]

Because only my mother and former employers call me Vincent.

Former roommate of my son upgraded from "Vinnie" to "Vince" as his answer-to first name - when he married.  Over here, "Vinnie" has an overtone of Mafia hitman

[Moleman76]

first name Joel, via rhyming expanded to Moleman by a college roommate; 76 also a collegial reference (graduation year), and useful when usernames demand a capital letter, a lower case letter, and a numeral - and there's more than 8 characters there, too. 

[Efrogwr]

"Yorkshireman" translated into Welsh. I've spent half my life in Wales, and now my parents are dead I cannot imagine going back to Yorkshire... stands back and awaits flaming!

[clarion]

*astonished*

[Oscar's dad]

"Yorkshireman" translated into Welsh. I've spent half my life in Wales, and now my parents are dead I cannot imagine going back to Yorkshire... stands back and awaits flaming!

A funny story 

Why not piss off both Yorkshire folk as well as those from Wales by moving to the People's Republic of Mid-Essex - you'd be most welcome!

[Efrogwr]

*astonished*

Nay, lad, is that 'best tha can manage?

[clarion]

Rayt proper gobsmacked, thanose.  I'll go to t'foot on our stairs.

[Efrogwr]

 ;

Rayt proper gobsmacked, thanose.  I'll go to t'foot on our stairs.

 ;

[citoyen]

Mine came from a forum discussion on non-gender-specific titles and politics, which some of you may be old enough to remember. And there was a spate of yacf name changes around the same time so I joined in. Comrade seemed a bit too obvious and I’m a Francophile so...

Previously (and still elsewhere) I was smutchin, which was literally picked at random from the dictionary. I’ve also used ‘citizen smudge’ online as a hybrid of both.

I once went by Gordon Riot on a forum for listeners of Robert Elms’s BBC London show, which the man himself approved of. And I sometimes use Widdersbel, which is from Russell Hoban’s Ridley Walker (my favourite book) and relates to where I live.

[yorkie]

Mine is partly because I have lived in York for most of my life (originally from Leeds (...and "Loiner" takes a heck of a lot more explaining!!  )) and also because I played (Contra)Bass Tuba in what was then the Rowntree Brass Band (unsurprisingly, sponsored by the makers of "The Yorkie" chocolate bar).

[LittleWheelsandBig]

My handle dates from the Cycling Plus forum days, not long after ex-Mrs LWaB and I rode our Bromptons during my only Dunwich Dynamo, so well over a decade ago. I like riding anything that involves pushing pedals round, from Bromptons and Moultons, through tandems (biggest to date is a four-seater) and recumbents to high bicycles - for pretty much any reasonable distance (in Audax terms).