In college I made the mistake of mentioning to my funloving, slightly sadistic friends on the newspaper staff that I hadn't ever really acquired a nickname. They were delighted to be handed the opportunity to gave me one--the nerdiest one they could think of. (Primary inspiration was probably the nerdiest Muppet, but I'm not certain of that.) To this day, whenever my best friend from college catches me doing something nerdy (like, say, writing parodies of thirty-year-old science fiction tv shows) he'll scrunch up his face and call me
that name.
Usually I tell people it's because of my fondness for scooter pies, which is plausible--I do love scooter pies--but sadly wrong.
In recent years I've resorted to using it online because (a) my first name is really common and (b) my last name is really common and therefore (c) all permutations of some or all of said names are really common. But Scooter or Scootermark, for better or for worse, are not.
Knowing that your online banking system knows you as Scooter makes doing your finances just that little bit less stark and oppressive, too.
