wileypeter: (Default)
wileypeter ([personal profile] wileypeter) wrote2008-12-31 09:46 am

Your name is what?

I was curious. What does your user name mean? What's the connection?

Mine: Years ago I worked in a copy & printing shop. We also did business cards. They had a cheapo card, white with black print. I'm sure you've seen them.

A colleague was almost as goofy as I was at the time, and we went in on a card together. My initials and number in the left margin, his in the right, and in big print in the center, "WILE E. COYOTE, Supergenius."

This should surprise nobody here.

As an experiment, I dropped a few in a club in San Jose just to see if anyone would call, and how far they'd travel. Two weeks later at least one card had made it to Idaho. I got close to a dozen calls for "Mr. Coyote."

We eventually sprang for a more elaborate ACME Products card, but the original WILE E. COYOTE card was the classic. (The inclusion of a short product list on the ACME card was a real hit, though. For some reason people would always read the word "batsuits" out loud. Never failed.) My first email address was at a bbs, and "wiley" was the obvious choice. It's been lurking about ever since.


So, where did your name originate?

[identity profile] madtom-o-bedlam.livejournal.com 2009-01-01 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
My user name is easy. For many years I played Mad Tom O'Bedlam at the various renaissance faires. The character is based on a popular folk song that comes from the 11th century.

It also takes all the space available in a LJ name slot. I don't know why I like that, but I do.