smargana

[truepenny]

I'm amusing myself with anagrams. (I identified completely with Tony in The Robber Bride, because I habitually check to see what things look like backwards, too.) So let's see what mischief I can wreak upon my Friends list. (This is not mockery of anyone's choice of username--I want to be explicit about that. This is just how my mind works.)

This started with elisem, because I noticed that doing that backwards produces Mesile, which is really a pretty cool name.



pameladean backwards is Naedalemap, which I also rather like.

papersky comes out Yksrepap, which looks sort of vaguely Russian and unpronounceable. But Yskperap isn't bad, or Yskparep--Yskparep looks like the manufacturer of a Russian typewriter.

rysmiel: Leimsyr. Or Misyrel. Or even Mysirel. Elymsir, Elymris. Elymris I like.

heres_luck confounds me: kculsereh is clearly something unfortunate in Klingon. Only thing to be done is to rend apart the "c" and the "k": Heculserk, which looks like I threw Hercules in a blender. Sechulerk--damn that k! Chesulker ... ooh, now that I like.

melymbrosia comes out Aisorbmylem ... Aisorblymem ... Aisorblemmy (oh, that's just silly) ... Blymaisorem

kita0610, leaving out the numbers, which don't enter into this game, becomes Atik. Has that sort of primeval questing-for-fire look about it. *g*

jess79 ... well, Ssej doesn't do much for anyone, but Sjes has a similar, though more Nordic, feel to Atik.

renenet is Tenener, which reminds me of the old joke about the kid in the spelling bee who got landed with "banana." But Terenen is rather lovely.

bonibaru comes out as Urabinob. I like that. It looks like a goblin name (which is a compliment--I like goblins).

vassilissa flips around to Assilissav ... Alississav ... Salissivas.

tenebraeli becomes Ilearbenet. Or Arbenetile (although that looks vaguely like a medication). Or Arbenilete. Or Benareilet, which looks a little like something out of The Three Musketeers.

ajhalluk is Kullahja, transforming to Kullajha or Alkujhal. Alkujhal is clearly the name of a forgotten Arabic alchemist, and that's pretty darn cool.

cija turns into Ajic, which bothers me because I can't figure out what pronunciation system it ought to use. So make it Ajci or Icja, and then it's clearly just one of those names you fling yourself at and hope for the best. *g* Icja looks a little like something you might find in the Eddas, and that's a plus.

cliosfolly morphs into Yllofsoilc, which is unpronounceable in the extreme. Ylloclisof is better and has a nice rhythm.

scarcrest: Tsercracs. Very Slavic. Tscescarr or Tsersccra. Or Tsersracc. It's an abominable practice to have a nine-letter name with only two vowels. I'm just sayin'. Tsserracc. Or Tsseccarr. I rather like Tsersccra, although it looks like something out of The Pride of Chanur. We could cheat and throw in an apostrophe, because, you know, that's rule #1 of making up names: Tsersc'cra. Definitely a name belonging to an alien species' tradition. Or maybe particularly Russian Elves.

pdcawley becomes Yelwacdp, which lumps all the consonants together at the end. Pyeclawd--oh, bother, pseudo-Celtic. Wedaclyp, Pewaclyd. More pseudo-Celtic. Pycladew. [ETA: Pycledaw]

rliz. Zilr can flip to Zirl, and Zirl has a little flair.

vonnielake becomes Ekaleinnov. Also very Slavic.

vrya is Ayrv ... Vary, which doesn't count because it's an actual word ... Vyra, Ravy, Ryva. Ryva's nice.

brisingamen twists and turns and produces Nemagnisirb. Brinemagnis, a dog-Latin macaronic for "a lot of salt." Magrinsebin.

marith becomes Htiram. Mithar, Tharim, Thamir, Thimar, Ritham, Rhatim, Rhimat. I think I like Rhimat. It looks like the name of Tiamat's little sister.

infinitemonkeys. Oh boy. Syeknometinifni. Feniskyonimetin. That's completely insane (and again with the Slavic), and I like it a lot.

misia is Aisim. Or Maisi (What Maisi Knew: Henry James for the 80s). Simai, Amsia, Amsai, Iasmi, Iamis. Or Iimas. Heck, why not use a double-i when you get the chance? [ETA: Miais]



truepenny, of course, just does Ynnepeurt, which looks like a villain out of the Chanson de Roland or Christine de Pisan or Marguerite de Navarre. I can handle that.

[ETA: And sufficient fiddling around with my husband's nom de blog, The Minister of Hardware (erawdrahforetsinimeth), produces Nefethredais Mirrorthaw. And Mirrorthaw is just too good not to use.]

So if you see yourselves being referred to by weird anagrammatic names, don't be alarmed (and if it pisses you off, just tell me and I'll quit).

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

rysmiel: Leimsyr. Or Misyrel. Or even Mysirel. Elymsir, Elymris. Elymris I like.

Damn it, so do I. Not only that, but I have a character who's been looking for a name for a couple of years whom I think that fits. May I use that ?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. That's really cool.

Acronyms

[scarcrest.livejournal.com]

It's an abominable practice to have a nine-letter name with only two vowels.

What's worse is having a seven-letter name with only two vowels (the same vowel) and only two consonants repeated. Not a lot of acronym fun to be had with the word "Tippitt." :)

This thought initially occurred to me when I was thinking an acronymn might make a good pen name ... but not with my name! They're also not good for using when on the lam, because it's something police would think to track. And if I ever marry, the bride would have to have a hell of a last name for us to successfully pull of making a new last name out of letters from both our names (something I've heard at least a couple of people talk about wanting to do).

Re: Acronyms

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Tippitt ... Ptiptit--you can be from Djelibeybi (T. Pratchett, Pyramids), although that's basically useless from a pen-name perspective. Other than that, yeah, it's pretty much a non-starter.

[heresluck]

V. amused at having foiled you, at least temporarily, with my name-that-isn't-namelike. And of course anything that ends up with "sulk" in it is more appropriate than not. I'm surprised you didn't mess around with the implied apostrophe while you were at it.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you didn't mess around with the implied apostrophe while you were at it.

It was a point of honor not to resort to the apostrophe. Besides, Chesulker (which, aside from containing "sulk" also hints at "Cheshire," which has its own radius of appropriateness) came up with lamb-like sweetness.

[poisoninjest.livejournal.com]

::giggle:: So my ficbitch and I are Atik and Sjes, the Nordic fire-gatherers. Hee!

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[renenet.livejournal.com]

which reminds me of the old joke about the kid in the spelling bee who got landed with "banana"

Is that worth asking you to explain?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

It's a doggerel that goes something like

I could've won the spelling bee,
Gone straight to the top,
But I started spelling "banana"
And I didn't know how to stop.

I'm doubtless remembering all the details wrong, but that's the general gist.

I dunno. Was it worth it?

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Well, I have a sense of closure, so that's good. Curiosity, even of the most mild and banal kind, must be beaten into submission. I think I like "when" instead of "how" in the last line, though. Thanks.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Papersky would make a reasonable pen name, if I pretended it was Polish. Pryskera is the best I can make out of it.

Jo backwards is Oj. That isn't especially cool, but if you write a J and then draw a circle around it, that's Jo. I like that a lot.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Well, it would certainly make a weird pen name. And there's a bunch of other variations on Misia that I didn't do: Amiis, Asiim, Misai, Siaim, Miais (I actually quite like Miais, now that I look at it), Imais, Isiam ... right, I'm stopping now.

But I'd be tickled pink if you decided you wanted to use one, two, or all of them. Because it's just neat when I put up something as silly and self-indulgent as this and then have other people be pleased by it.

[vass]

Heculserk, which looks like I threw Hercules in a blender.
Which is no bad idea, actually. A new, modern labour for him.

I can get Penelope out of my real names, combined and stirred, but there aren't enough letters left to make a decent surname. There are other names I could make, but I like Penelope. It's long - and Classical.

-- Salissivas

[rliz.livejournal.com]

<utterly charmed>

Zirl! Zirl!

"Rebecca Lizard" anagrams to "caliber-crazed". (Er, punctuation inferred.) I like that, too.

Stifle is an anagram of itself.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

My own username is actually a translation of my real name with a typo. (Points if you can figure out what language it should be: extra points if you figure out what word I meant!*)

Iemnoy. Hmmm. Anagramised, I can get "I money" out of it, and also "I OM Yen". "My Ione", which is quite sweet, and Ye Omni, which is kind of weird.

*All points repayable in virtual chocolate and roses.

[tenebraeli.livejournal.com]

tenebraeli becomes Ilearbenet. Or Arbenetile (although that looks vaguely like a medication). Or Arbenilete. Or Benareilet, which looks a little like something out of The Three Musketeers.

Ilearbenet! Oh, I like this! Much better than what happens to my real name...

Olwen=Newlo :P