The Origin Story of Tony Giunta
What name do you use on the Internet? I use my real name.
In terms of screen names/handles/etc. I’ve had quite a few over the years. The ones that stuck around for the longest have been angryjungman and macolyte. These days I’m trying to consolidate everything under some variation of my first name spelled backwards, most often in the form of wtf_ynot since plain ynot seems to be taken most places.
Do you keep the same name everywhere? I wish. The fact that I have so many different user names across so many different services kind of drives me nuts. I only recently discovered how easy it is to change your Twitter handle, so that helps a little bit.
Where did it come from? angryjungman came to me while I was in college in the late 90s. It was an angsty time and Billy Joel’s Angry Young Man was my theme song. I was also a psych major and Carl Jung was one of my favorite theorists at the time. One day I was putzing around on my computer in my dorm room and the two collided in a flash of brilliance.
macolyte just popped into my head randomly one day around the time I was really getting into the Mac, around 2005.
ynot also has its origins in college. My roommate and I had this obsession with spelling things backwards. We used to hook up a microphone to our computers (running Windows 95) and record ourselves saying random things. Then we’d play them back reversed just to see what it sounded like. Needless to say, studying wasn’t a huge priority for us.
What does it mean to you? This one’s going to sound a little cheesy. In retrospect, all of my names have represented stages in my ongoing search for an online identity. They’ve changed as I felt I’ve outgrown them.
The one I’m using the most now, wtf_ynot, reflects the laid back “eh, what the f, why not” attitude I’m trying to cultivate in myself. It’s also a little bit of me finally embracing my real name (more on that below). And when you spell it the right way around it’s tony_ftw.
Why did you choose it? I have this overwhelming need to show off how clever I am. Plus, you know, that whole online identity thing I mentioned in the last question.
Do you ever think of changing it? I think I’m pretty settled on it now. It only took 25 years….
Why do you / don't you use your real name? I didn’t use my real name online for a long time. I spent years coming up with and using pseudonyms. Partially because I mildly hate my real name. It is impossible both to spell and pronounce. But mostly because when I was first getting online using your real name wasn’t really something you did. Maybe we were all afraid of being stalked. Now that everybody is using their real names on Facebook and such it doesn’t seem like such a huge deal.
What was your first internet screen name? Legolas992 on AOL. Wikipedia tells me this would have been around 1991/1992 so I was 11 or 12 years old. I remember being horribly disappointed that I wasn’t the first person to want Legolas as their screen name. That may explain why I’ve always tried to be so clever with my handles since. I hated having that 992 tacked on there.
What is your favorite name you've seen in your travels across the net? I’m sure there are several, but I’m failing to think of any at the moment.
Whose origin story would you like to hear next? Yours Carl. Where the hell is yours?
Tony writes at the latest thing he's calling a blog at Mental Cloister. He also tweets over at @wtf_ynot.