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What does your membername or nickname mean? How did you come to your name on CF?

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Go to CruxDreams.com
So many back stories.
I'm sure I've told mine several times now. When I was looking for a username to join the old Crux group many years ago (before it became a Yahoo group) I had a bookshelf above my PC, and on it was the novel "Consider Phlebas" by Iain M Banks. That title is inspired by a portion of the TS Eliot poem "The Wastland" which I am also fond of:

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passes the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

"Look to Windward" is another Banks novel btw.

So now I am this forum's Primus Poenus :)

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I love the poetry.
 
But they are Pretorian'guards who assassinated poor Messaline !!!:eek::(
Just doing our job, mademoiselle. We gave her the option to do the honorable thing and cut her own throat. But she refused and so a quick and clean sword thrust to the belly. Praetorians are always efficient. She had it coming.
MessalineLisisca.jpgI do remember the night she worked the brothel. She was a remarkable women.

I shed a tear when she died. But, she had it coming!


Trigger Warning! Image above may be banned from certain sites!
 
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I like to imagine mine is fairly self-explanatory...

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FSG was writing a lot of good stuff when I thought of joining, so I sort of followed the same idea. I've very little pictorial imagination so the avatar of a 'crucified' cat (and before the thought police get near, a cat who sleeps like that does own me) seemed OK at the time. My name doesn't lend itself very well to be used as a character in a story, which is a pity, but like a lot of us old codgers, I can't be arsed changing it now.
 
Theseus has been a hero of mine ever since I read Mary Renault's book "The King must die" as boy in the 1960's. When I was looking for a name it seemed natural to one who had been a slave and an offering to the Minotaur, yet come out on top.
But why not this one by example ? We could see your "incommensurable" cock ... :D
 

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So many back stories.
I'm sure I've told mine several times now. When I was looking for a username to join the old Crux group many years ago (before it became a Yahoo group) I had a bookshelf above my PC, and on it was the novel "Consider Phlebas" by Iain M Banks. That title is inspired by a portion of the TS Eliot poem "The Wastland" which I am also fond of:

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passes the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

"Look to Windward" is another Banks novel btw.

So now I am this forum's Primus Poenus :)

View attachment 651283
A great honor!
 
I was looking one day for a name like 'Priest of Darkness' but that one and variations of it like changing priest with monk were all taken
At that time I was learning perl and there are discussion groups called Perl Mongers, Monger meaning 'someone who deals with n.' So it sounded right and was unique enough so as to use the same name on all forums I join.
 
T

The most interesting figures are often those that stood against the tide, who bucked "the Great Arc of History."
Another of those was Cassiodorus ( https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cassiodorus) who wasn't great at anything, but is credited with some of the most important actions to preserve ancient knowledge and literature ever. Of course it is notable that he was briefly Praefectus Praetorio!

But above all, never, ever confuse him with Hop-Along Cassiodorus!:p
BTW He is sometimes called "The Last Roman".

And for the youngsters here, Hop-Along Cassidy was an American Cowboy hero many many moons ago!
 
Phlebas the Phoenician,
But where did Eliot get him from? I don't think anyone's come up with any wholly convincing answer.
He wrote an earlier version of that passage about Phlebas in a French poem, Dans le restaurant',
during WW I, re-worked it in 'The Waste Land' (not 'The Wasteland' ;) ).

The most interesting suggestion I've found is that it might be an obscure reference to Plato's late dialogue Philebus,
which analyses the concept of pleasure and its relationship to wisdom. But poor old drowned Phlebas has no longer any use for either!
 
But where did Eliot get him from? I don't think anyone's come up with any wholly convincing answer.
He wrote an earlier version of that passage about Phlebas in a French poem, Dans le restaurant',
during WW I, re-worked it in 'The Waste Land' (not 'The Wasteland' ;) ).

The most interesting suggestion I've found is that it might be an obscure reference to Plato's late dialogue Philebus,
which analyses the concept of pleasure and its relationship to wisdom. But poor old drowned Phlebas has no longer any use for either!
You really should be a teacher. You make the boring, dusty old stories of history and literature glow with a youthful interest!:clapping:
 
That´s (nearly) the only reason I am on CF - to broaden my knowledge :)
Plato tells us knowledge brings pleasure, and true pleasure is wisdom,
so CruxForums is the Platonic ideal!
 
But where did Eliot get him from? I don't think anyone's come up with any wholly convincing answer.
He wrote an earlier version of that passage about Phlebas in a French poem, Dans le restaurant',
during WW I, re-worked it in 'The Waste Land' (not 'The Wasteland' ;) ).

The most interesting suggestion I've found is that it might be an obscure reference to Plato's late dialogue Philebus,
which analyses the concept of pleasure and its relationship to wisdom. But poor old drowned Phlebas has no longer any use for either!
I suspect Eliot made up the name. I'm no linguist, but I don't believe the "phl" or "fl" sound occurs in any Semitic language.

Another suggestion is that Eliot was referring to the Greek phleps , genitive phlebos which means "vein".
http://europrogovision.blogspot.com/2008/05/considering-phlebas.html
 
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