The Use of Nicknames on the Internet

The use of nicknames on the internet

We have often used the internet not only to get the information we wanted but also for communication purposes. Chatting on Mirc and sending messages or mails has replaced the old fashioned letters and phone calls. So, in order not to reveal their identity they invented another person. Still this character would resemble the initial person but will also have the qualities that the “owner” would want for himself…In the end it would be a super-person, flawless but also virtual…

I. Who am I?

The most difficult task when you want to have a nickname is finding the right one. It is not easy to find an appropriate nickname as it has to be representative for you and in the same time it has to be cool, to be different from the others, to make you unique. If you want you can put your name without any space between the letters. But this can be done by anybody. You have to rise above mediocrity and come up with a better one.

Let’s say that your name is Mary and you are lazy…then the nick should not be long as typing it would tire you. Lazy Mary would be a good nickname to start with.

If you are lazy it means that you can afford to be lazy, so you have some money. But, money do not satisfy you, you need something stronger, you need power, nobility you need to be a queen…So, we have Lazy Queen Mary.

Nevertheless being a queen sends your thoughts towards Queen Elisabeth of England. You are not that old so we’ll have to change it into lady: Lazy Lady Marry. It is too long so we will have to make it shorter.

The final version would be Lazy Lady M.

II. A me without errors

Why would you create a duplicate of you, one that would have no “errors”?

The answer is simple: it is because sometimes we have complexes related to our appearance, behavior or identity. We do not want the other to know how we look like or how our financial status is or how old are we. We want them to know how we feel, to share with the ones that we trust our deepest concerns and thoughts. Because of this people get more intimate information about somebody, more than they would get if they knew each other. So, the question that appears …

Why do people that have never seen each other get so intimate?

The simple fact that you do not know that person makes you think that you are safe, that he/she can not hurt you. We sometimes feel the need to tell someone about our problems…we can not talk to our parents or to our friends because we would feel unsafe or embarrassed with ourselves. We talk to a stranger on the internet and we tell him about that issue. If he has been in the same situation and knows a way out is a good thing, if he can give as a suggestion it is also good…The only “bad” thing that could happen is that person to make fun of us. But, then again, he does not know me and he can not harm me in the real world.

Can this be a way for a introverted person to get in touch with other people and maybe escape from his/her “handicap”?

It is known that introversion means lack of communication and fear of big groups. In most of the cases the introverts are lonely people and their introversion seems to be a heavy rock on their shoulders. It makes them fear that they would be rejected by the others because of being different and this accentuates their introversion. When you chat or send messages the other does not know how you are like unless you tell him. And if you reply slower he may think that it is a lag problem. By communicating it is possible to escape from introversion and then, little by little, meet with the ones he is talking to and become a socially active person.

How does it work?

People want to hear a voice that would say something interesting or something funny or have the same way of thinking. Others, on the contrary, want to debate, want other opinions and love to squeeze their minds in order to find a more powerful argument. The surface does not matter. It is the mind, the way of thinking, the fact that makes the difference.

The ones that use chat or on-line messaging have also developed a code of their own. It is made from the capital letters of the words. They did so because it would have taken much too long to write the whole words. Examples like the ones below are just a few from all the abbreviations:

“Brb” – be right back

“gtg” - got to go

“asl pls” – age, sex, location please

“thks” – thanks

“lol” – lots of laughs

As you can see we have the code used and the knowledge of what is expected from us when we visit a forum or when we send mails or messages. All that is left to be done is to open the computer and start typing.