I've been using the pseudonym "Celandine Brandybuck" for nearly 4 years now in various online communities. Several RL friends who also have pseudonymous blogs quite naturally use "Cel" in addressing me either here or in their own blogs, just as I use their pseudonyms in such contexts. And of course those who have met me online know me by that
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Maybe writing keeps Cel sane? ;)
I know what you mean tho. Even though I know your RL (first) name, you are and (probably) always will be Cel to me. Just as i am DT. I even refer to myself as such. And as a Took, you are my Brandybuck cousin, right?
Wow. Maybe I need to check my marble bag too.
Ever affectionately,
DiamondTook
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Now that is entirely possible. *grins*
And as a Took, you are my Brandybuck cousin, right?
I seem to remember working it out once that you were my fourth cousin through marriage...
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Every human being is complex. Very creative people will find an outlet and 'organize' this aspect of themselves. When the day comes and we finally get to meet in person, I'll be hard-pressed to call you anything but Cel. Not that I don't realize you have another name, it is just that you are.. well... Cel.
I know for a fact that I'd be more free with things I write/post if I'd used a pen name instead of my real name. There is freedom in the fact that this other persona is separate from RL. IMO, only the complex creative person can pull this off.
Sheesh.. Am I full of it this morning, or what?! This is an incredible topic. I'll have to think on it some more.
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What worries me - well, worry is too strong. What intrigues me is that some days I "feel" more like Cel than like RL name. It's an identity that is comfortable for me, I inhabit it (mostly) happily, my RL identity often not so happily. But if I were Cel all the time, I don't think that would be the case any more.
[Oh, and looks like I will be down in your neck of the woods over Thanksgiving, but with SO, his mother, and her SO, so I don't think I'll have a chance to hook up... although, thinking about it, *possibly* I could sneak away on the Friday afternoon... if you're not too busy with family obligations too.]
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I often wonder how my LJ would be different if I'd had a different user name. I've had people say they clicked on my username simply because they liked it, so with a different name I'd probably have a different flist as well.
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Names are really interesting. There have been some studies that suggest that people with popular names are (unconsciously) favored by others in various ways. I'm a teacher so I see a lot of different names among my students; my personal pet peeve is when names are misspelled. You know, parents wanting to give a child a certain name, but wanting it to be "unique" somehow, so they take "Candy" and turn it into "Kandii" or whatever. Drives me up a tree. ;-)
with a different name I'd probably have a different flist as well
Could be!
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I think our pseudonyms/nicks/handles etc DO become a part of who we are, and entities unto themselves after a fashion. I like to think of it as a med-free experimentation with Multiple Personality Disorder. That one always did fascinate me back in the days when I studied Psychology. LOL!
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This is why I have, both on my bio page here at LJ and at Wellinghall, a stanza of a Robert Frost poem including this: "But yield who will to their separation, / My object in living is to unite / My avocation and my vocation / As my two eyes make one in sight." To remind myself that it's all me, really.
I like to think of it as a med-free experimentation with Multiple Personality Disorder.
LOL indeed!
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