About The Name…
Q: Okay, so where’d the name for the site come from?
A: Well, it’s a little complicated.
Q: Oh, great.
A: Calm down, I said a little. Anyway, the basic term, Byronic, comes from the poet Lord Byron. He wrote about a lot of characters who were deeply passionate, striving to do good, were often pretty funny, but usually fatalistic.
Q: Meaning?
A: They self-destruct. They crash on the rocks of their own passions; their own idealism.
Q: Wow, cheery.
A: They also frequently expose some vanity or foolishness of society. So that type of character, or person, is called “Byronic.”
Q: So it has nothing to do with irony?
A: Not really. There’s often irony in Byronism, but the rhyme is coincidence.
Q: Okay, wait – Byron. I remember him. He wrote that one poem, uh, whaddyacallit, “Tender Is The Night.”
A: No, Tender Is The Night is book by F. Scott Fitzgerald. You’re thinking of “She Walks In Beauty Like The Night.” That’s the poem by Byron that everyone reads in high school.
Q: Oh, yeah, right. So he’s one of those lovey-squishy-oogy poets?
A: No, not at all. People usually think that. That poem’s actually about a super sexy woman who might kill you.
Q: Really?
A: Yeah, think about it. The night’s definitely beautiful, but it’s also incredibly dangerous, and hides many secrets.
Q: Huh. And so you’re Byronic?
A: Well, yes, I suppose. There’s a definite theme in my life thus far of intense passion and creation followed by self-sabotage and/or crushed idealism. And jokes. But that’s not meant to be overly-grim – it just seems to be part of the story.
Q: What about the fact that it also sounds like “The Bionic Man”?
A: That sealed the deal for me, in terms of names for the site, honestly. Loved the show when I was a kid, seemed like a cool melding of classical imagery and pop culture. And the ideal of rebuilding one’s self – better, stronger.
Q: So you were a big Steve Austin, Six-Million-Dollar Man fan, eh?
A: Oh yeah. When I was about 6 I wanted to change my name to Steve. Actually that’s not entirely accurate: There were several names I wanted, and I couldn’t pick so finally I decided that I would change my name to ‘Jim Jack Joe John Steve.’
Q: Cute.
A: Yes it… it didn’t catch on.
Q: So basically you got so in to all of them that you wanted to hold onto it all, despite the fact that that was unrealistic, then it all fell apart because of it? Very Byronic.
A: There you go.
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6 Comments on “About The Name…”
August 25, 2011 at 12:57 pm
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August 25, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Well thanks, I appreciate the compliment, and thanks for subscribing!
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September 8, 2011 at 3:51 pm
I like the cut of your jib. That’s something my grandfather used to say but I don’t know what it means. My grandfather used to say a lot of things. Mostly about the Kaiser.
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September 8, 2011 at 6:58 pm
What, this old thing? Why, I only throw this on when I don’t care what my jib looks like!
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January 5, 2012 at 7:04 pm
I say my good man, I’ve decided you deserve this…walterkittysdiary.com/2012/01/05/the-versatile-blogger-award/
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January 6, 2012 at 6:14 am
Thanks! I will try to live up to it.
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