Whence your moniker?

[Legs]

So where did your yacf handle come from?  Some are obvious, but some clearly have a bit of a back-story to them.  My apologies if this has been done before over the years.

FWIW, 'Legs' was the nickname that my older brother and his mates gave me on my first day at a new school in 1989, when I happened to be the only boy wearing shorts.  It's stuck to the extent that I am Uncle Legs to my nephew and niece.

[PaulF]

Well mine is a long story spanning over 50 years, draw up a chair and sit down....

[Giraffe]

I wear a mostly yellow tri-top and am 6' 4" tall. A girlfriend of about a foot shorter than I said that I looked like a giraffe. I assume that she was referring to the top.
She bought me a large ball-pont pen in the form of a giraffe. It's about 8" long - I still can't find where the battery goes in.

[T42]

Tea for two.

[Beardy]

Obvious, well yes, but...

I've had a beard almost since I need to shave and didn't, but the moniker didn't come until quite a bit later. I was a scout leader at a Sea Scout group and one of the boys called be Captain Beardy. It sort of stuck. But one of our friends is a master merchant mariner, at the time sailing with the Stenna as a first officer. the fact that she had her Masters ticket and wasn't a captain was something of a sore point with her¹. The fact that I did not have a Masters ticket and was also not a captain was not really an issue, but she was damned if she was going to call me Captain Beardy, so I became just Beardy.

1. She did sail as a captain for Stenna, the first female to do so, but only as a relief. She's since left them and now works as a Pilot out of Felixstowe and Harwich.

[Legs]

Excellent, keep 'em coming!

T42, I'd never thought of you as anything other that tee forty-two...

[mcshroom]

Mine came from a rugby supporters' forum many years ago. We were complaining about the club keeping us in the dark (they were actually staving off going bust so couldn't tell us much we later found out), so all picking mushroom themed names. My initials are MC so I just turned the u on it's side. After that it stuck.

The confusing bit is that people sometimes assume I'm Scottish.

[ElyDave]

My name's Dave and I live near Ely

on another forum I'm The Ref as I was an active rugby referee when I joined that one.

T42 - I always assumed some obscure reference to The Guide

[Woofage]

For 20 years I was an Acoustics and Audio Engineer. I designed speakers 'n' things. Woofage is a term that means stuff that comes out of big speakers.

[madcow]

My initials are CJD. The moniker was applied by a work colleague and has stuck.

[clarion]

Tea for two.

Ohhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

FX: Many pennies dropping.

I'd always assumed:
This
or
This

[clarion]

My initials are CJD. The moniker was applied by a work colleague and has stuck.

  I like that one.

[CAMRAMan]

I like Housman, but am not from Shropshire, so became A Warwickshire Lad, before that I was summat or other about Hungary, where I was living at the time. Now I am CAMRAMan, the title of a Half Man Half Biscuit track and also a homage to my love of good beer.

[essexian]

Mine goes back to when I was very young...back then, the name Ian was very popular in that there were four of us in my class: Surrey, East and indeed Westward.  And no, before anyone asks, my family name is NOT Essex!

However, most summers I used to disappear from school for several days to go and watch Essex play at the festivals run in Ilford and Leyton. Hence the teach would ask: "Where is Ian..." to which the answer would be: "Essex."

[clarion]

*Housman

Anyway, I'm a socialist cyclist, so the choice of name is obvious, really:

Clarion Cycling Club

To be honest, my memberships have lapsed (though I intend to rejoin), and I wasn't a member when I chose the name, as I thought that the Clarion had fizzled away in all but name.

My Orbit Silver Medal had Clarion CC decals when I got it resprayed, and was called Swiftsure, after the Clarion newspaper's cycling correspondent.  After a break (literally) of a few years my newly built (and not yet really ridden ) Singular Peregrine is also named Swiftsure.

[menthel]

Mine comes from a game called Neverwinter Nights that I used to play online with a group of friends. Its not really very exciting or relevant to me as a person!

[T42]

Tea for two.

Ohhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

FX: Many pennies dropping.

I'd always assumed:
This
or
This

Both niftier than the real origin. Nah, though, when I signed up I was fed up with monikers I'd used elsewhere and had just made us a cuppa. 

I have a better moniker on a French espresso forum: Vieux Clou. It's slang for an old bike, and on one of the events I did the organizers were linked to a confectionery/baked-goods company and had supplied the last control with biscuits bearing the names of chums and general somewhat-rueful cycling expressions. By the time I got there the one with my name on it had been snaffled, but Vieux Clou was left so I took it:



Crikey - pic is from May and I'm wearing 3 layers. Must've been cold.

[offcumden]

Since I moved up from darn sarf in 1975, I've always felt welcome, and happy to live in Yorkshire. But there are always the 'professional Yorkshiremen' (they're always men) who, while friendly, sometimes leave you with the sneaking feeling that allowing an incomer to stay in their beloved county is something of a concession.  Not so long ago I daringly used a local dialect word, whereupon someone asked how long I'd lived here.  When I said '40 years' I was told, 'Eeh, lad, tha's nobbut an offcumden".

I know my place.

[Blade]

Contraction of my surname. Friends at school over 50 years ago started referring to me as Blade and it has followed me ever since, helped by the fact that I've maintained friendships with many friends over the years who have perpetuated the nickname amongst other fresh acquaintances.

My son has also been given the same nickname by several of his friends too.

[Karla]

Contraction of my surname. Friends at school over 50 years ago started referring to me as Blade and it has followed me ever since, helped by the fact that I've maintained friendships with many friends over the years who have perpetuated the nickname amongst other fresh acquaintances.

My son has also been given the same nickname by several of his friends too.

You mean it didn't come from the vampire film 

[Oscar's dad]

Funnily enough this was talked about yesterday evening during the pub stop on our regular Mid-Essex Mid-Week Nocturnal Series ride.

Back on 2007ish I wanted to join acf (forerunner of yacf for those not long of tooth) and at the time was riding an Orbea I had named Oscar.  When in the company of other yacfers, which is often, I sometimes don’t realise someone is trying to get my attention if they call me Steve, but will prick my ears up if I hear OD being mentioned.

All my bikes have names and generally give me less grief than any of the children I have attempted to parent 

[Torslanda]

Contraction of my surname. Friends at school over 50 years ago started referring to me as Blade and it has followed me ever since, helped by the fact that I've maintained friendships with many friends over the years who have perpetuated the nickname amongst other fresh acquaintances.

My son has also been given the same nickname by several of his friends too.

...or being a Sheff Utd fan.

My first ever forum was <mumble/can't remember> something to do with the publishers of MBUK & other zines. I signed up there and in a fit of panic and total lack of imagination* used my real name. It was explained by Redshift and others that this was generally regarded as a BAD THING^TM so, when ACF came along, I was working for ovloV. Torslanda is the name of the main plant in Sweden where elves & trolls would hew and stamp solid metal into tanks automobiles. I liked that and the name stuck.

Polar Bear nicknamed me 'The Velomancer' after the repair to Frankenhilda's frame and, for a while, I considered a name change but I guess I'm stuck with it.


*This from the days of newsgroups when it seems everyone stayed anonymous or something...

[Legs]

... an Orbea I had named Oscar...

..and there was me, blithely assuming Oscar to have been a human person!

[Oscar's dad]

... an Orbea I had named Oscar...

..and there was me, blithely assuming Oscar to have been a human person!

Which was the conversation yesterday evening, we were talking about our kids and one of our newer members was surprised to learn I didn’t have a son.

[fimm]

My initials used to be FMM and the second letter of my first name is I, hence FiMM. However my initials are now FMZ but I'm fimm in so many places that I've decided to remain fimm and not become fimz. Fimm is more "pronounceable" anyway.