Q: Do you have a fake name you use sometimes when it really doesn't matter? Like at a sandwich shop or something.
https://www.fujichia.com/house/posts/2021-07-20/index.html
responses to Fujichia Questionnaire #1
2021/07/20
PSEUDONYMS / QUESTIONNAIRE ANSWERS / MORTIMERS / DANIELS / PICKLE / BATMAN'S DAUGHTER / YOM & DUPPY / LINKS
OK before I get into another round of questionnaire responses, two quick things:
1. I've added a new component to Tom Bubul's art show in the Grand Ballroom-- there are now x-ray glasses on the table and when you wear them you can see the dub versions of the drawings, with no linework, just the the color layers. That's up now, it's on the second floor of the castle.
2. I'm going to have a book sale next week, I'm getting rid of a lot of great stuff-- comics, weird stuff, classics... That's going to go live next Tuesday (the 27th) and be up for, I don't know, a couple weeks? I might do it in the castle, I might set up on a blanket on the lawn, I haven't decided yet. Anyway if you want first dibs then set your alarm for Tuesday 11:30am. :)
Ok here's the questionnarie responses. Please note: I got almost to the end of putting this post together before realizing it's bad security to ask people what their pseudonyms are and then publish them in an orderly list on a website. :( So I put the pseudonyms themselves through a "weird text generator" so they'll be (I hope) unsearchable. I must ask forgiveness from my readers out there using screen readers or other accessibility options that get borked by this strategy- I promise not to make a habit of this. I don't think its especially likely that someone will hit google trying to resolve a hospital bill from 20 years ago but why take that chance? Stay free everyone.
I used to do fake names all the time, but then I got stuck as ๐๐ช๐ป๐ต๐ช when they remembered me and had to keep being her so I stopped. - caity
All the time. Hated my name growing up as I was constantly called the wrong name up until about the age of 30. Had a co-worker in my mid-20s who called me "John" because my name was too hard to say. Still will give a fake name at a coffee shop, just so I actually get my drink while it is warm. I hate when they insist on getting my name right, spelling it for them, just so I can be standing around for 10 minutes before I realize the Jean or Joan they are calling for is me. - cobra stepdad (Jaan)
I make them up when needed, which is really hard... so I always end up altering my name. They know you're faking it, if you have to think about your name first. - comet
There were a few friends in my life where our dynamic made it feel acceptably playful that when ordering food with them I would order first and give their name as my own. This seemed like a fun prompt, but it probably wasn't, and the most common play was for them to use my name when they ordered. I try not to do things like this anymore. - anthony
sometimes i use "๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ต" but that's just some fun gender play stuff and not really a "fake" name, just the masculine version of my actual name. - danni
๐๐ธ๐ต๐ต๐ฒ๐ท ๐๐ต๐ต๐ฌ๐ช๐ป๐ผ is my go to fake name. Also ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ต which is not my usual preferred name and feels not real. - dan wars
Whenever making my mark in a trail log or guestbook of any sort I always refer to myself as ๐๐ธ๐ป๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ, ๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ. - dork morph
I feel like this would be a thing where I would say "๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ" and there would be another mike and then it would become a thing, as an inevitable punishment for lying - dylan going
Oh yeah I go by "๐ข๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฑ" or "๐ข๐ฝ๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ฒ๐ฎ" if someone's going to call out my name otherwise they're just like "Flaggel? Pisswater???" - flannery
. I've used ๐๐ช๐ป๐ด or ๐๐ฑ๐ป๐ฒ๐ผ at a cafe numerous times for absolutely no reason. - g harvester
when people call me by my legal name: John, I sometimes don't correct them. A schoolbus driver called me john for a year in middle school - jack reese
๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ฌ๐พ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ - jeff
Not me but one of my best friends moved to a new city long ago and told everyone his name was "๐๐พ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐พ๐ซ๐ซ๐ต๐ฎ" and he never broke the fog for his new friends, for the brief time they knew him, which I thought was amazing. "๐๐พ๐น๐น๐" is, of course, short for "๐๐พ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฝ." The name was fake but he was a real dude and he's dead now, by accident. But he'd love me telling the story. RIP ๐๐พ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฝ "๐๐พ๐น๐น๐" ๐๐พ๐ซ๐ซ๐ต๐ฎ. I reckon he's made another dumb name to confuse Saint Peter. - jesse mcmanus
When I ordered supplies for work I used the name ๐ข๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฝ ๐ฅ๐ธ๐ท๐๐ฎ๐ป - it came about from a combination of using the name Scott Free at first, and then at some point receiving mail with a mixed up version of my real last name - and so ๐ข๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฝ ๐ฅ๐ธ๐ท๐๐ฎ๐ป bought loads of office/shipping/warehouse supplies. - joshua vrysen
"๐๐ช๐พ๐ป๐ฎ๐ท" - lala
Yes, all my life I've found myself in scenarios where I've got classmates or co-workers with both first and last names slightly similar to my own, and the confusion is annoying. so I relish in having someone shout "๐๐๐ก๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ก" when my sandwich, or coffee, or slice of pizza is now available at the counter for pick up. - fiendish clutches
Not on purpose. I'm soft spoken so sometimes people hear my name wrong and I don't correct it. Someone at work calls me ๐๐ช๐พ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ท. - lauren
Yes. Even had that name added with embroidery to a 'professional' shirt. ๐๐ต๐๐ญ๐ฎ. - lee
yes... ๐๐๐ข๐ - lizzie
๐ก๐ฎ๐ถ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป is my name for when things go haywire and I need to divest myself of responsibility. I used to have several PO boxes under the name ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ธ๐ต๐ด๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ท, and a couple of friends knew if I had to be picked up from the hospital or jail to ask for that name. But it's been a while. - mike taylor
I used give out fake names at parties and stuff all the time (๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป, ๐๐ฒ๐ช๐ถ๐ธ๐ท๐ญ) but I use ๐๐ฎ๐ผ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฎ๐ต๐ผ for craigslist and weird shit like that. - ml
"๐น๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ผ" - mindy
I love picking cool names for my D&D characters. Right now I'm a dwarf named ๐ก๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ธ! - mz
My penpal Leonard Richardson told me years ago that sometimes he uses my name at the sandwich store, so sometimes I use his in the same setting. We didn't meet up IRL for many years and then finally we did, and at one point we went out to eat somewhere and I remember feeling electric about the idea that we'd tell the cafe person each other's names. I don't remember if we did though, maybe we both just got regular coffees, no name required. Also I should note that I used Mike's "๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป" over and over again as a character in the gossip section of Mothers News-- I figured that no one reading would recognize every single one of the names in the gossip section, so if I kept mentioning this one made-up person then readers would start to form an idea of them and maybe even start to see them around. If anyone did ever meet a mysterious character and say to themselves "I think that was ๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป", they never said anything to me about it. But that's in keeping with a mysterious character I guess. - Jacob
My mom would say her name was "๐๐ช๐ฝ๐ถ๐ช๐ท" at Starbucks, which I used to find incredibly embarrassing. - nina
One time when I was a high school scruff I told the cashier at La Vera Cruzana in a Northampton that my name was ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐พ๐ป๐ผ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ท while getting burritos with my friend, which was stupid anyways and we both knew it. Immediately before order came up Thurston Moore walked in the door and they called out ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐พ๐ป๐ผ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ท. He looked confused and I had to slink up and get my food and sit down to eat. Whatever gave it away, it was super clear it wasn't my name and I was miserably embarrassed. - raisin bird
I have many alter egos, but I'm very intentional about how and when they intersect with the public. Most of the time people get my name wrong and I go with it. I kind of think that's sort of like using a fake name. Usually the name that others project onto me is ๐ข๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐. - sandy
Yea I have two. Someone asked me a couple years ago "what's your head's name?", and the answer was immediate-- ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ป๐ช ๐๐ช. The other is a psuedonym I realized recently but haven't used yet-- ๐ข๐ช๐พ๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ๐ธ. - sophie
my beloved eye-doctor dr ricky misread my printed name on the form "TOM" as "๐จ๐๐" (because to be fair I prob put a lot more swoosh on the T on the form than was called for). in normal circumstances I will correct strangers on the pronunciation of my first or last name but in this case I was like "dr ricky can call me ๐จ๐๐"
- tom
no b/c my name is only 3 letters. - zoe
links/misc
The questionnaire that I pulled these reponses from is still up, and if you want to you can still fill it out-- the link is here: [fujichia]
Here's a great write-up on security culture for activists, from CrimethInc. [link]
Putting ๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป in the gossip column in the hope of somehow making him kind of real was inspired by an excellent Borges short story, "the Circular Ruins". If you're not done reading today, here's a link: [link]. It's a quick read, and then you can turn it over in your mind all afternoon. I scanned it in and OCRed it, sorry if there's some mistakes here or there.
Steve Industry (pictured above) is not only a cafe and local news pseudonym but a singer in a dynamite blues band (the Steamrollers) and the author of a great book, "The Autograph Of Steve Industry". You can get it direct from the publisher, I recommend it. Essential townie literature. [link]
Thank you for all the World Snake Day messages everyone! Special thanks to Flannery for making me this crazy video-- "Stardust Playing in the Other Room and You're a Snake and It's Really Coming Down Out There 1 Hour" [youtube]. Flan's got a great radio show every Wednesday from 4-5pm EDT, you can listen live at that moment, or to the archives at any time, via this website: [link]. Flan also celebrated a birthday last week and her show was a facsimile of a mix tape made by a cool 16 year old in the early 2000s. I gotta say it realllllllly took me back.
Again, check out Tom's show in the Grand Ballroom (again), there's a cool new glasses feature. Take the stairs up to the second floor- [stairs]