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. :( 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 𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓪 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 "𝓭𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓮𝓵" but that's just some fun gender play stuff and not really a "fake" name, just the masculine version of my actual name.
- danni
𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓷 𝓐𝓵𝓵𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓼 is my go to fake name. Also 𝓭𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓮𝓵 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 𝓜𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮𝓻 𝓖𝓪𝓵𝓪𝓱𝓪𝓭, 𝓦𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓜𝓪𝓰𝓮.
- dork morph
I feel like this would be a thing where I would say "𝓜𝓲𝓴𝓮" 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 "𝓢𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓱" or "𝓢𝓽𝓮𝓹𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓮" if someone's going to call out my name otherwise they're just like "Flaggel? Pisswater???"
- flannery
. I've used 𝓜𝓪𝓻𝓴 or 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼 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
𝓜𝓲𝓵𝓬𝓾𝓶 𝓦𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼
- jeff
Not me but one of my best friends moved to a new city long ago and told everyone his name was "𝓓𝓾𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓑𝓾𝓫𝓫𝓵𝓮" and he never broke the fog for his new friends, for the brief time they knew him, which I thought was amazing. "𝓓𝓾𝓹𝓹𝔂" is, of course, short for "𝓓𝓾𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓽." 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 𝓓𝓾𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓽 "𝓓𝓾𝓹𝓹𝔂" 𝓑𝓾𝓫𝓫𝓵𝓮. I reckon he's made another dumb name to confuse Saint Peter.
- jesse mcmanus
When I ordered supplies for work I used the name 𝓢𝓬𝓸𝓽𝓽 𝓥𝓸𝓷𝔂𝓮𝓻 - 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 𝓢𝓬𝓸𝓽𝓽 𝓥𝓸𝓷𝔂𝓮𝓻 bought loads of office/shipping/warehouse supplies.
- joshua vrysen
"𝓛𝓪𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓷"
- 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 "𝓜𝓞𝓡𝓣𝓘𝓜𝓔𝓡" 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 𝓜𝓪𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓷.
- lauren
Yes. Even had that name added with embroidery to a 'professional' shirt. 𝓒𝓵𝔂𝓭𝓮.
- lee
yes... 𝓛𝓘𝓢𝓐
- lizzie
𝓡𝓮𝓶𝓶𝔂 𝓟𝓯𝓮𝓲𝓯𝓮𝓻 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 𝓜𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓥𝓸𝓵𝓴𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓷, 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 (𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓵𝓮𝓻, 𝓓𝓲𝓪𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓭) but I use 𝓛𝓮𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓮 𝓜𝓲𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓮𝓵𝓼 for craigslist and weird shit like that.
- ml
"𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓵𝓮𝓼"
- mindy
I love picking cool names for my D&D characters. Right now I'm a dwarf named 𝓡𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓸!
- 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 "𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓵𝓮𝓻" 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 𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓵𝓮𝓻", 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 "𝓑𝓪𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓷" 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 𝓣𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓷 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 𝓣𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓷. 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 𝓢𝓪𝓷𝓭𝔂.
- sandy
Yea I have two. Someone asked me a couple years ago "what's your head's name?", and the answer was immediate-- 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓻𝓪 𝓛𝓪. The other is a psuedonym I realized recently but haven't used yet-- 𝓢𝓪𝓾𝓵 𝓟𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓸.
- sophie
my beloved eye-doctor dr ricky misread my printed name on the form
"TOM" as "𝓨𝓞𝓜" (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 𝓨𝓞𝓜"
- 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 𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓵𝓮𝓻 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]
If you got here through a link, click here to go outside and come back in: [outside]
Archives of previous posts is here, in the coat room: [coatroom]
To sign up to get these posts in your email for free, click here: [substack]
To write me a nice message, use the contacts page: [link]
To leave a little donation to help in the maintance of this castle, OR to simply hear the sound of a large bell, which is good luck, visit the temple area: [link]
As always, if you're bugging out or need a respite from endlessly scrolling the feed, you are welcome to hang out in the castle as long as you want. :)
