The Origin Story of wellbredgrapefruit
What name do you use on the Internet?
'wellbredgrapefruit'
Do you keep the same name everywhere?
I try. It's a bit long in some cases so I have to shorten it (I'm 'wellbredgfruit' in those cases), and in some spots I still go by my old handle, 'duwanis.'
Where did it come from?
I've used the name "Well-Bred Grapefruit" as a blog title ever since the days of Livejournal. Yes, I had a Livejournal. And yes, I regret that. It's a play on one of my favorite Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker's Guide fame) quotes:
“Life... is like a grapefruit. Well, it's sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have half a one for breakfast.”
What does it mean to you?
Honestly it's just kind of silly, in a good way. It's a claim at being high-class while being thoroughly absurd at the same time. I really hate the way that the age of "social media" has made people feel like they have to make themselves a brand and self-promote, so this is kind of my little way of subverting that trend.
Why did you choose it?
Like I mentioned earlier, I had gone by "duwanis" for a while, but that had been getting old. There were two big problems with it:
People assumed there was some cool back story for it. Really it was an almost-random name I had made for a Diablo II character back in high school, and it was unique enough that I could rely on it being a good username.
People kept pronouncing it out loud as "dew-anus," which is just all kinds of ugly-sounding :)
So I was in the market for a new name, and that old blog name of mine kind of stuck out to me. I decided to jump over to it, got a consulting designer to put together a logo for me, and here we are.
Do you ever think of changing it?
Not now. I might eventually, but I'm pretty attached to it at the moment.
Why do you / don’t you use your real name?
I think I just grew up in that age of the internet where you had a "handle." Prodigy, AOL, ICQ, IRC - nobody used their real name in those days, and that just kind of became my assumption about online personae. If I had grown up in the age of Facebook and Twitter, where real names are the normal order of things, I'd probably feel differently. But I'm a product of my environment.
What was your first internet screen name?
GodOfConfusion42. It was an inside D&D joke. I'm one of those nerds.
What is your favorite name you’ve seen in your travels across the net?
There's a buddy of mine who used to go by 'gumbercules.' I love that guy. But he started using his real name, and the world became a little less magical.
Whose origin story would you like to hear next?
Hrm. I dunno, so many people just use their real names these days. I guess I'd tag one of my coworkers at Treehouse, @hatefulcrawdad.
Now that people have heard your story, where can they go to find out more about you?
I blog somewhat infrequently at wellbredgrapefruit.com. I'm wellbredgfruit on twitter.