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Speaking of names, that name game thing reminds me that the guys on my freshman dormitory hall nicknamed me "Matrix". If it had happened thirteen years later I would have been so cool.
Of course William Gibson was already using the word in a supercool cyberpunk context, maybe because he had seen him some Doctor Who. But at the time it was just meant to connote nerdhood, and was probably partly inspired by the vast amount of time I spent helping other people with their linear algebra homework, which was all matrices.
Other colorful nicknames I have had are Veg-Head and Motormouth (this last being favored on the school bus I rode in the third grade; I am proud of that one since it actually connotes a character flaw other than simply being a nerd or kind of dumb). Through most of my elementary school career I was generally known as "McIrvin" because there was always some other Matt who ended up claiming the first name.
I feel sort of guilty about getting people to call me "Longshot" on alt.religion.kibology, since the whole point of that was that a guy I knew in college had tried at great length and unsuccessfully to get other people to call him "Longshot", thus demonstrating the futility of making up your own cool-sounding nicknames.
Of course William Gibson was already using the word in a supercool cyberpunk context, maybe because he had seen him some Doctor Who. But at the time it was just meant to connote nerdhood, and was probably partly inspired by the vast amount of time I spent helping other people with their linear algebra homework, which was all matrices.
Other colorful nicknames I have had are Veg-Head and Motormouth (this last being favored on the school bus I rode in the third grade; I am proud of that one since it actually connotes a character flaw other than simply being a nerd or kind of dumb). Through most of my elementary school career I was generally known as "McIrvin" because there was always some other Matt who ended up claiming the first name.
I feel sort of guilty about getting people to call me "Longshot" on alt.religion.kibology, since the whole point of that was that a guy I knew in college had tried at great length and unsuccessfully to get other people to call him "Longshot", thus demonstrating the futility of making up your own cool-sounding nicknames.