The language of chatgroups 161
software program. The nicks may be words or phrases, sense or
nonsense. Because the number of possible real name-like words
is limited, people regularly play with the typography or morphol-
ogy, producing linguistic creations of sometimes virtuoso qual-
ity. Bechar-Israeli classified the nicks in one corpus of 260 names
in terms of the semantic preferences expressed.^55 Almost half re-
lated to characteristics of the self (a person’s character, appearance,
profession, hobbies, location, age, etc.), with other categories, in
preference order, as follows:
Self:<shydude>,<sleepless>,<pilot>,<Dutchguy>,<irish>,
<cloudkid>,<oldbear>,<bfiancee><EKIMslave>
Names to do with technology and the medium:<pentium>,
<pcman>
Names to do with flora, fauna, and objects:<froggy>,<tulip>,
<BMW>,<cheese>
Namestodowithfamouscharacters,realorfictitious:<Godot>,
<BeaMeup>,<Elvis>,<Stalin>
Names to do with se xand provocation: <sexpot>,
<buttspasm>,<HITLER>,<HAMAS>Names were also ‘empty’ (
(
at any time, and some groups do actually play around with their
nicks, informing the other members that ‘
as
speed. Everyone in the interaction may change their name in a cer-
tain way – for example, adding a numeral to their nick, or adopting
the name of an animal – before changing back.
Nicks have a discourse value, also, in that they provide a crucial
means of maintaining semantic threads in what is otherwise a po-
tentially incoherent situation. When interactions become complex,
members name each other – usually before, sometimes during or
(^55) Given the idiosyncratic nature of many names, classification is a real problem. Many
items are highly ambiguous or uninterpretable.