Why do you use your specific handle

Well, like Bert, I was given my handle by my parents. But there is a story there . . . You see, my father grew up in the *really* backwoods of the Tennessee hills. As near as I can tell, they really did not have names, and he was only called 'John's boy,' that being his father's name (and about everyone else's.) Anyway, he liked to hunt raccoons, and thought himself pretty good at it, so tried to go by the handle 'Raccoon.' But he was not a very good shot, and kept hitting the back end of the animal, rather than the end that counted, so his people called him 'Ar(s)coon.' After he escaped from that place, he became a Quaker, who don't really approve of words like that, *or* hunting, so he changed his name to 'Arcune,' to kind of cover up the origins of the name. Then, when he registered to drive, either his handwriting was bad, or he was a bad, TallPaul like speller, and his handle ended up 'Arcuni.' That is my family name. The rest of it happened like this: My mom and dad were missionaries in Africa. They left me when I was an infant, briefly, on the riverside. Along came an hippopotamus and ate me. Well, despite the fact that more large-animal-caused deaths occur from hippos in Africa than any other animal, they really are vegetarians, and this one spit me out. Actually, I think I either tasted or smelled bad. But for a while after that I was called 'filled d'hippo' by lots of the people there. Then my parents were archeologists in northern Africa, examining ancient greek ruins. My mom, feeling sorry for me because of the name I had, and because of her love of Greeks and the Greek language, shortened my name to 'Philip,' which means 'lover of hippos.' My mom was always a soft touch. That is my story, and I am sticking to it.

My nickname is top secret. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you....

Peter, you name sounds like a dinasaur who likes to eat peanut butter! jj mine isn't hard to figure out-- Lainey, short for Elaine; bug something small; Laineybug sounds similar to ladybug, given to me by my family, as a nickname when I was a little girl.

It's my Navy "callsign". Most people think that I got my callsign because of my surname. In reality, I'm "Frosty" because of my desire to make my cockpit nice and cold. An EA-6B has two cockpits: the forward cockpit with the pilot and navigator and an aft cockpit with the weapons operators. It's sort of like a limo...If you are sitting in front, you can see where you are going...if you are in back, you've only got windows out the sides. We've only got one common air conditioner, controlled by the navigator (me), who sits forward with all the glass windows letting the sun come through. Because it like it cold, I run the A/C up near maximum. This, in turn, makes the aft cockpit (already in the "shade") even colder. Oh, the A/C unit is located at the back of the crew compartments, meaning that the aft cockpit gets all the cold air directly before it filters its way forward. On some occasions, I have made it "snow" in the back seat...hence my moniker.

My handle "bobatwork" is to remind me where I am. I have another handle, guess what it is? "bobathome? No. It is "bobatworkorhome."

Phil Arcuni (aka Filet a Racoon), Do I detect another snide shot at us Smiths in your 'Tall' story? This is becoming a habit. Some of us Smiths can spel, you know. TallPaul can spel beer and pizza - that's all that counts. Ian PS #1: If this was March 1, I'd say your explanation was about a month early. Otherwise you are just social-climbing, pretending you have a Greek name. PS #2: Bert used to be "Flyguy" - what happened to that? (especially in view of his recent new record fly times)

Shinob... is short for Anishinabe. "He's a shinob from the rez..." Its just a locale specific term I hear Anishinabes use when pointing each other out in public places. Add that to my California Doodness personal history and you get... ShinobDood. Its a mix between Geronimo and Spicolli... -- out

Hi all Mine is pretty straightforward...Backstroke has been my favorite stroke all along and still is. When I swam hard in Masters a few years ago, my teammates called me "latwoman" -

ooops - I hit "enter" prematurely....anyhow, I liked that handle, but I am afraid I don't live up to that quite as well. Hopefully soon again....as I am training again!

Way to go, Ian.......I dumped the "flyguy" designation because of swimmer's snickering at the obvious connotation. I'm not particularly tall, so I couldn't adopt the moniker "bigflyguy". The term "fastflyguy" seems to fit, until you let your mind wander where it shouldn't. So, until I come up with something better, I will keep the name I have. Call me Bert, just don't call me late for dinner.......... ~~~^o^~~~