ConwayLife.com

I am thinking of changing my username.
I got myself the name "Scorbie" when I was in high school. The name was from ascorbic acid, thought it would be "cute" to call it like that. (A little embarrassing in retrospect...) Well, after a while I got to know that the word "ascorbic acid" came from a+scurvy+acid but I used that name anyway.
Today, I heard the etymology of "ascorbic acid" for the fifth time and I am now pretty much concerned whether my username gives the impression of scurvy. Hence this post and the following questions:
1. Does my username imply "scurvy?"
2. If it does, does the following candidates for my new username sound a little dumb/stupid/idiotic? (Crazy is okay, dumb is not.)

• sexyplatysma
• malanglove
• tetrahydrofolate(?)

Ugh...

@drc LoL thanks :)

sexyplatysma is the best username ever

EDIT: @Scorbie LoL no problem :­)

I've never even heard of ascorbic acid, to be honest.

Gamedziner wrote:I've never even heard of ascorbic acid, to be honest.

You probably know it as 'Vitamin C'.

I'd never heard of ascorbic acid either.

calcyman wrote:

Gamedziner wrote:I've never even heard of ascorbic acid, to be honest.

You probably know it as 'Vitamin C'.

Hehe, thanks for the record.

Really "Scorbie" doesn't have any "scurvy" connotations in my mind at all. Whatever the etymological roots might be, it sounds more like "score" than anything else, and that means so many different things that you can't really say it has positive or negative connotations -- can just pick one.

There's also a nearby word "ascerbic", but "Scorbie" doesn't really evoke that in my mind either. I think basically you've successfully made up a perfectly good new word, and (as Humpty Dumpty says) it can mean whatever you choose it to mean. "The question is which is to be master -- that's all."

If anything your username kind of reminded me of scarab beetles.

I think there is nothing wrong with your username.

I did get the scorbutic connotation, but to me it was actually cute and interesting. Certainly better than the alternatives you proposed.

Gamedziner wrote:I've never even heard of ascorbic acid, to be honest.

blah wrote:I'd never heard of ascorbic acid either.

drc wrote:EDIT: @Scorbie LoL no problem :­)

Alexey_Nigin wrote:I think there is nothing wrong with your username.

thunk wrote:I did get the scorbutic connotation, but to me it was actually cute and interesting. Certainly better than the alternatives you proposed.

Thanks a lot everybody! So it isn't a problem for people who do know and don't know ascorbic acid! Phew... then I'd keep using this name here. About the candidates here... When you see the those in some other place, you'll know it's me...X)

Adding my two cents' worth. Your screen name seems fairly "normal" compared to some of the other new names I have seen on here, and it seems sufficiently abstract that it doesn't have any unintended negative connotations (at least to me). I think you'll find that people will be more likely to base their opinion of you based on your decorum on the forums and the usefulness of your discoveries, much more than the screen name you happen to use. It will also be less confusing for others if you don't suddenly switch from one name they have known for years to another new one they don't recognize.

I'm also thinking of changing my username. When I chose it, it seemed humorous, but currently I think I would prefer something more serious, because now I'm finding that it feels rather awkward to have my username referenced in connection with actual discoveries (however occasional that may be).

Similar to the original post:
1. Does my user name seem like it's not serious enough to anyone else?
2. Are any of the following ones better?:

• praosylen (the name of a planet in a science fiction novel I'm writing)
• rho1cancri_Afb (a hypothetical habitable exomoon)
• a21c (a concept for a programming language that I'm thinking of maybe eventually trying to start to develop)
• xcenthas (utterly meaningless)

A for awesome wrote:I'm also thinking of changing my username.

The way I see it, you have over 1000 posts going back to 2014. A name change would be kind of dramatic, and I don't really mind your username; to me, the seriousness of a username really just has to do with whether it's your real name. Maybe others disagree with me; I am 'blah', after all.

Just ask us to call you your real name, Aiden. If that sounds to be more seereeyus