Say My Name, Say My Name

I had this whole post idea ready to go for today then I realized that I couldn’t come up with a title for it. So I scrapped it.

Yes, you read that right. I scrapped an entire post because I couldn’t come up with the proper way to present it to you, the people, the masses, the folks. Then I remembered an idea and question I had a while back. See, one thing that we love about VSB ’round here (no Memphis Bleek) is that we’ve managed to establish actual repoires with ninjas and non-ninjas who frequent these parts. We’ve done various icebreakers to find out about our community for the purposes of doing awkward demographic data mining so that one day we could sell all of that information to Hennessey or Cognac or one of the other companies hell bent on destroying what’s left of the Black community.

Like St. Ides.

Anyway, one idea that we never really tapped into was probably the most obvious and potentially the most interesting:

How’d you come up with your handle? Or hell even your Twitter handle for all of us who spend as much time on Twitter as we do with our families and pugs. While I know that some folks handles are as simple as a variant of their names, some folks have very interesting ass names. So I figured, what the hell, spill the beans.

I’ll start. In DC, when I’m out and about, I often introduce myself as Panama. For some of you that might sound ridiculous, but the truth is, PJ, is an actual living and working nickname, especially in DC. Most folks dont remember my real name for anything but Panama is a name everybody always remembers. I’ve actually had the nickname WELL before I started writing anywhere.

For starters, I was born in the country. Yep. That is from whence I came. My birth certificate is in Spanish and English. But the way that the name was truly borne was out of a trip I took to Lake Lanier north of Atlanta, for our senior week at Morehouse. Me and my boys were walking to the entrance and for some odd reason – I do a lot of “for some odd reason” things – I decided to start walking through some bushes. They looked inviting. They welcomed me like Gaia was in there massaging feet. Anyway, one of my boys look at me and is like, “who the hell are you supposed to be? Panama Jack?” I was like, “naw, homey, I’m Black. Make that Panama Jackson.” Just that simple.

Later that night when I got home I went on AOL and got me a PanamaDJackson (had to add the D, which stands for Dontavious) screenname. I added the “D” because PanamaJackson was taken. That was in like 2001. So anyway, that’s how I came up with my name for all those that didn’t know. Or couldn’t remember.

So what’s your story?

Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Day!

-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka MR. MY NAME IS ON FIRE aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL HE A 3

Also, check out P’s latest post over at Guyspeak, “If You’re Faking It, Should You Ever Tell?” You know what that’s about. Check it out! And Champ’s latest post over at Ebony, “Think Like a…Fact-Checker. Did France Really Ban ‘Think Like A Man?’”

Monday we’re off. But don’t forget if you’re in DC that on Saturday, June 2, 2012, we’ve got another edition of REMINSCE at Liv Nightclub coming up! Except this time, we’re gonna be celebrating my birthday! Please come out and hang with your boy for a little while. I’d really appreciate it. Plus, it’s free before 11pm w/RSVP (reminiscedc.eventbrite.com) and $10 after. AND there’s an open bar from 930-1030 WITH NO DRESS CODE. You can come in shorts because it gets HOT in there.

993 thoughts on “Say My Name, Say My Name

    • Oooh, yes! I’d like to know where everyone is from as well. It seems like we have a lot of international friends. I’ll start… I’m originally from Omaha, Nebraska (no, I didn’t grow up on a farm), but now live in Little Rock, AR.

      Oh, and my screen name? That’s easy. Aly is short for Alyson.

      • *waves from across the sea*

        I am an international VSS (but not really). I live in Korea now, but originally from Souf Flawda. I get down to Trick Daddy and Bizzle in the privacy of my own home. In public I say I’m not a fan of ignorant Miami music. Nowadays I listen to MBLAQ and Miss-A.

      • *waves* I am an international VSS too. Obviously from my handle, I am Kenyan and live in Nairobi.

        My pet name is a short form of my ethnic name and it is what most of my friends and family call me.

    • I’m from the midwest. Yay! Lived all over, including overseas in Germany. Now I hail in Cali…and I can’t wait to leave this bytch!!! Lol

      • Girl I can’t wait for you to get out to!! I just moved from there and it was an interesting cultural experience!

        Why so eager to roll??

        • Frankly…too many uneducated, programmed military black folks and too many white folks who want to do the same thing, look the same way and so on.

          I value diversity of all types (racial, cultural, variety in things to do, etc) and it’s just not here. I love the sun here though. They can keep the rest though.

          • I am originally from Cali but am now a Georgia girl. Northern Cali is VERRRRRY diverse. Actually that is what I miss the most, because where I live there are only blacks, whites, and mexicans. No Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Somalians, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Italians, etc etc……. ugh.

    • Solitaire is my line name, easy enough. I’m originally from Detroit, but i call Chicago my home. I live in Mozambique right now tho. Oh yeah-other nicknames include BK -given to me by my best friend in high school. I used to wear this shirt from Hot Topic with ‘BAD KITTY’ written in rhinestones and she thought it was hilarious, so she would call me ‘bad kitty’. But ppl thought it was weird, so she shortened it to BK and it stuck. Also, my boyfriend used to call me BBMG which stood for ‘Big Boobies McGhee’…just cause he thought it was funny…

      • *waves* I am an international VSS too! Obviously from my handle, I am Kenyan and currently live in Nairobi City.

        My pet name is a short form of my ethnic name and it is what most of my friends and family call me.

        • Yeah! Glad to see another Kenyan up in this here site. Am a VSB and my handle is Jimna. I have had that moniker since I was a snack..now am a full meal.

          Nairobi Rocks!

          #backtomylurkingways!

        • Out of all the Africans that I went to school with there were probably like 2 Kenyans at my school. I just went to my brother’s graduation and there were like 200 Kenyans in his class lol. They’re deep up there. As deep as Nigerians are in the rest of the d@mn world lol

    • Chicago in the house. Now should I do the typical ignorant, young black male thing and shamelessly brag about violent the city is? No? Darn it, I was looking forward to that.

      Sidenote: I don’t give a walking, swimming, or flying f*ck what NY says, Chicago’s pizza is the best in the entire WORLD! We even got Italy mad as hell at us over here. Our deep dish is immaculate.

      Sidenote-Squared: The Downtown area of Chicago is incredible. No matter what time of day it is, you can find SOMETHING to do.

      Sidenote-Cubed: Ketchup on a hotdog is a No-No here. Don’t be surprised if you visit Chicago, try to do that sh*t, and a random Chicagoan stops what he/she’s doing just to knock the hotdog on the ground.

      But other than that, if you visit Chicago, I hope you have a great visit! Just remember my advice.

    • I’m from the Westside of Atlanta (West End) but I unfortunately reside in Norfolk, VA. Are there any VSBs and VSSs around here?

        • spent 19 years of my life in the RIC till 3 years ago, finally broke free from the 804 and fled the state. Trying to decide if I wanna continue holding it down for Raleigh though.

          What don’t you like about the Nawful, Norfick, Nof*ck, or whatever them 757 ninjas is calling that place these days? I have a blast when I go there, granted I’m chilling in Ghent most of the time.

      • Westside of Atlanta always warms my heart.

        As the resident Adamsvillain and Flatlander in the hizzouse. I gots nothing but love for my ninjas.

        #zone4 #peytonplace #hightower #adamsville #flatlands

        • Yo I went to HU, and my fiancee and one of my best friends is from Denbeigh…Ima need ALL of yall professional athletes to get it together.

          #teamFRIEDCRAB from the other side of the James river bridge!!!

      • Boston in the building! Dorchester is my home and heart hence the twitter handle @DotsDaughter. The VSB handle I tend to use when I de-lurk on occasion is a combo of my gubment first and last names

    • I apologize in advance, as I’m contractually obligated to sing the state song:

      “Ooooooooooooooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain….”
      Except the “wind” is usually in the form of a tornado, at which point I’m in a closet somewhere.

    • Im from NC and my online name is chanelle (middle name) and but my real name is carisa, which noone seems to know how to spell or say. I was also wondering when there would be a meetup too.

      • Don’t forget, KB, that you’re also from where folks throw the random “u” in words that end in “or”…But I’m from the D, where we’re all half Canadian, so we accept either spelling (neighbor/neighbour, color/colour, etc…)

          • Yes.

            When I left Korea last year (hard to believe it’s been a year already), I got to DTW and it was 46 degrees. And raining. I was wearing no outerwear whatsoever…just a t-shirt and some jeans. lol

            And this was mid-May.

            I still love Detroit though.

          • it can definately get cold. but there are parts of canada (to the west and the maritimes) that get colder.

            think of it as minnesota + whatever states are on the atlantic coast. def colder than toronto.

            *shivers just thinking about it*

    • Y’all really trying to trap and trace now, huh?! Originally from music city, but now a rack city chick… for another month or so. After that, I guess I’m gonna go where the wind takes me. Looking to go East of the Rockies.

    • Born in Louisiana, grew up as a military brat, (which included stints in DC, Maryland, and Virginia), ended up in Detroit…..so I rep Detroit because that’s where I graduated HS. Plus I’m a huge fan of all Detroit/Michigan teams anyway.

      Barry Sanders was and still is That Dude.

  1. K. Marie is my real name….sort of.

    To me, my first name is so common. I mean, like a gazillion people in the world have it. And even though I love my name, I also like being different. Since my dad and my uncles do the first initial, whole middle name thing, I figured I’d do the same. And it works. There are people who are itching to know what the K stands for, but I’ll never tell.

    The only thing working against me? I have a twin sister and her name rhymes with mine. So….yeah…..I guess it’s really not that hard to figure out. LOL

  2. Well. My handle is @brran1… it’s actually my email address from undergrad..

    When I started blogging back in 2007, I couldn’t come up with a name, so I picked that as I was checking email and BlackBoard at the time. Original, I know. lol.

    My Twitter name (@_bran_don) is pretty much self explanatory.

  3. Well, I’m a Leo, and in a world full of fakes and unauthentic people, I’ve always considered myself to be one of the realest, most honest (sometimes to my own detriment), and most loyal people I know.

    I’m considering a handle change soon, though. Not because anything in the preceding paragraph is false or going to change…..just time for something different.

  4. And if you’re faking it, heck no you should never tell. Yes, I’m assuming your talking about “you know” before reading the article.

  5. My handle on here is b/c I tried to get my friends to call me “Kay Beezy” (fa sheezy) and they wouldn’t. (I know, I know. Haters gon hate). My twitter handle stems from my extensive time in France and the fact that I’m a Francophile; people kept calling me “petite Americaine” or “Petite Martinique” and thinking I was diminutive so I took Petite back from the man. Haha

  6. Rog is short for one of my five names (two middles and a junior) and this is the only website where I use anything close to my real name. My most used handle is Black_Wookie (with 88 for my birth year when its taken)

    Origins:
    look like a black wookie when he let his beard grow
    weirdo, brown skin’ded always kept his hair low- MF Doom (Hoe Cakes)

    Doom being one of my favorite rappers, and my penchant for letting my beard grow to the point of having a nickname (fuzzy wuzzy being one) and Wookie being a Stars Wars reference (Star Wars fan)

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