Why "Dirigonzo"?

I'm a relative newcomer to this whole "blogging" thing. I'm just starting to understand how things work here and I know I have a lot more to learn before I'll even be at the "beginner" level of competence. So when I went to Blogger to start this enterprise ("why " I did is another story altogether) one of the first things I had to do was come up with a "display name".

It seems to me that a display name on the internet is a lot like a "handle" used to be when CB was all the rage; you remember: "Hey, Rubber Duck, this here's Rough Rider - what's your 10-20?" It's something to identify yourself to others without telling them who you are. Some display names are funny, some are punny, others are descriptive (but often misleading), obscure or confusing, some seem random and a lot are just lame.

So I gave some thought to what my display name should be. I wanted something distinctive, descriptive and maybe a little bit clever - after all, it's all anybody reading my posts or comments knows about me, and we all know how important "first impressions" are. I even floated a couple of trial balloons just to see how they felt, but nothing really clicked the way I wanted it to.

Then recently I read about a web site called "DirigoBlue" and I thought, "Wow, I can work with that!" It's a simple yet clever play on words. "Dirigo" (DEER-igo, NOT deer-EYE-go, please) is the Maine State motto (it means "I lead" or something like that); and Blue in this case was used in the Blue-state, Red-state political context. So taken together DirigoBlue tells us that the web site expresses the Democratic point of view. I like it!

I'm a Mainer so "Dirigo" became the focal point to create my display name. Diri-go, Diri-went, Diri-something. Then Dirigo became Dirigone(Crazy, Nuts, Stark-raving mad, etc., etc.) and then, there it was: Dirigonzo. GENIUS! Who doesn't love Gonzo, the weird looking critter with the big nose on The Muppets? And Gonzo journalism is pretty much my style of writing (I did not know this until I "Googled" it.) So Dirigo combines with Gonzo to produce "Dirigonzo" and there you have it - the perfect display name for me.

Then, because I'm starting to learn about these things, I googled "Dirigonzo", just to make sure it wasn't already being used by a porn-star or some other unsavory type and nothing - no hits at all! So I made it mine, and if you google it now all you will get is - ME; my blogs or other sites I've posted comments on. So I am Dirigonzo, and Dirigonzo is me and no one else!

That's why Dirigonzo - aren't you glad you asked?