 | | | | | | |
So why did I choose the nickname Hamster? That's an easy story. Ask a hard one.
So why did I choose the nickname Hamusutaa? Well, that's a bit more, well, interesting.
It started one day last semester when I decided to park my rear in  IRC like I always did. (ISDN is so spoiling) I joined
#anime! like I always did, and
said my greets. A few moments later... wham! I nick-collided with someone.
 |
For those of you who don't know, a nick-collision is what happens when two people
on two different parts of IRC have the same nickname when the parts are separated
via a netsplit, then recombine. The servers have no way of knowing which one
is the rightful owner (if there is such a thing) of the nick, so instead, both
people are booted right out of IRC. |
 |
So anyway, I didn't realize what had happened, so I just reconnected. A few
moments later, I received a private /msg from  Hamster_. (The "_" because I was  Hamster) claiming that I had
taken his nick.
Now, let me take this moment to point out that I've been using IRC off and on
for longer than most people have known what the Internet is. The whole time,
I've always used the nick Hamster. This guy was in
the weirdest of channels, including some with names that I shan't repeat on
the WWW, 'cause who knows who'll be reading this. He also claimed that he had been using the nick Hamster forever, and that he was
always on IRC (EFNET, by the way), I was just lucky that I never ran into him.
He said something about "letting me use the nick," but it turns out he meant
just for that night, because when I joined the next night, he was already on,
in his weirdo channels and in all his glory.
I grumbled around IRC, brandishing my "_" for all to see. After a few nights of
this, I decided to choose a new nick that I wouldn't EVER collide with someone
ever again. Seeing as how the channel I primarily hang out in is an anime
channel, I decided to choose a Japanese name. So I went to the
Japanese - English
Dictionary and popped in "Hamster". Of course, it came
up the boring "Hamusutaa," so I didn't try that originally, I tried gesshirui (Rodent) but eventually
figured that Hamusutaa was nine letters long, the max for an IRC nick, called
it kismet and I've stuck with it ever since.
Footnote 1: About 1 to 2 weeks after I made the change of nicks, that
Hamster guy stopped showing up. I've never seen him
since. What a dink.
Footnote 2: Yes, I realize that "gesshirui" also has nine letters. Bug off.
|
