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David K. Israel
Weekend Word Wrap: punny e-mail addresses
by David K. Israel - February 22, 2008 - 1:17 AM

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Generally, I’m not the sort of fella who a) cares who’s on a group e-mail list or b) has the kind of time on his hands to waste scanning the CC field. But I did recently, only because the e-mail I’m referring to came from an intellectual celebrity and, I hoped, might include a bunch of other e-mail addresses from similar lofty minds.

email-at1.gifWhen I’ve received e-mails from important folk in the past, I’ve always been intrigued by their addresses. Like, if Einstein sent you an e-mail, wouldn’t you be dying to know what he picked as his address? EmC2@yahoo?

So this CC list turned out to be a disappointment and a large waste of time. However, there was one address on the list that was identical to a vanity license plate I once saw. (While I can’t give it away, it did contain the old gr8 in it.)

This got me thinking about some people’s cute e-mail addresses, and how, at least for some, choosing an address is sort of like naming a boat. For instance, my parents know a podiatrist who named his boat “Toe Me In.” I’m not sure what the foot doctor’s e-mail address is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were another ped-pun in it.
What about you all? What’s the punniest e-mail address you’ve seen or, maybe even own? (Whatever you do, please don’t supply the post-@ portion!)

Another question: We need a word for people who enjoy sifting through group e-mail lists to see who else is on the thing. Or maybe the verb to do so. Anyone care to coin one?

Check out all past Weekend Word Wraps>>

Comments (53)
  1. seemaid (noun) or seemaid-ing (verb) maybe…portmanteau for “search”, “email”, and address

  2. seemaid (noun) or seemaid-ing (verb) maybe…portmanteau for “search”, “email”, and “address”

  3. A friend has an “a” in the middle of thier last name, so they registered the domain for everything to the right of the “a”. Now their email address is simply their last name with “@” instead of “a” (plus the .com).

    Oh, I’ll suggest “name diving” (as opposed to name-dropping).

  4. obstn8 is the e-mail of a dear friend of mine.

  5. dotcom@dotcom.com

  6. I’ve never seen this one in real life, but I think it would be absolutely hysterical. I keep thinking I should try it just to offer my kudos to the guy.

    hotmale at hotmail dot com

  7. A good friend of ours uses Awkward@___.com. He is absolutely brilliant but is truly one of the more socially awkward people in the world when it comes to talking to chicks.

    He also started the Awkward Club in high school and had an “Awkward” patch ironed to his lap-top bag…which he burned a hole into when he attempted to iron the patch on.

    In the end he wins, though. He does IT for TasteyKake in Philly. Nummy nummy nummy.

  8. Our last name is Ruff and so our email address starts with “ruffhouse…”

  9. One sure way to get on to catch a predator…Id8jlb8@pickanisp.com. Not mine, but funny.

  10. I have a friend whose email address is corncobsfornipples. He’s had it since he first got an email account, which would now be over decade ago!!!

  11. In my opinion, email names has pretty much evolved out of nice, cute and funny names. I guess the novelty wore off and most people just use their names now…

    my favorite one was a friend using yeoldebarn@…

    Most importantly I love coining words (even if this is my first time):
    cc coming from carbon copy I would say:
    Carbonning and Carbonner – which should be evolved ubt quickly into:

    Carbing and Carber

    Final Answer

  12. My dad’s email address was once anonymous@… I guess he didn’t want anyone to know who he was.

  13. I would like to add that my first choice was:

    mailperv and mailperving

    But I figured it would be more appropriate for people eavesdropping at your inbox while you’re emailing. Is there already a name for this?

  14. How about CCSeeing? And then, if you use those e-mail addresses for your own purposes (not just a reply all) you are CCSeizing.

  15. How about C-sieve or C-sieving?

  16. might I add: CCSnooping and CCSnooper

  17. I do that all the time, because I know a lot of people who have a hard time keeping a stable e-mail address, so I keep up with some of them by peeking at what addresses mutual acquaintances are using for them. I refer to it as “mining” (which I guess is an inadvertent pun, since I’m digging for them and also making them “mine”), and I don’t grab anyone I don’t already know, because that seems like a spammer technique to me.

    But if I were just looking to SEE who else is receiving what I’m receiving, it’s more like asking someone who invites you to a pary, “Who else is invited?” Maybe we could call it whoelsing. “I whoelsed that press release, and boy, howdy!”

  18. I have used the same handle since the days of the CB radio craze: UGLY1. I am ugly1@xxxx.xxx

  19. Some possibilities:
    MailMining
    AddyAware
    NameNuking

    Love Jess’ ideas too

  20. the funniest one i’ve seen was from a trumpeter:

    i8areed@…com

    being a music nerd, i thought i was funny…

  21. one of my friends in grad school’s last name is stitt, so his email address is holystitt@_____.com

    hysterical.

  22. one of my friends in grad school’s last name is stitt, so his email address is holystitt@_____.com

    hysterical.

  23. I use you81t00@

  24. My brother-in-law seems to change his email address monthly, to whatever he thinks is funny at the moment. I think he has them all forwarded together since I don’t bother to change my address book anymore and they still get through.

  25. I used to teach college courses and I saw the most unprofessional email addresses from students emailing me. My school even warned people not to pick something stupid because they’d be stuck with it for at least the next four years. Didn’t stop anyone from having addresses such as sexygurl69@____.edu. I certainly hope they didn’t put those on their resumes.

    Although I did hear of one kid whose email was superjew@___.edu. I laugh every time I think of that. And I had a friend at another school whose email was badmotherf*cker@______.edu. I’m surprised they let him do it, but props for a memorable address.

  26. i use myaccountname@__________.com

  27. My first name is Colleen, and I’m 4′11. One day a friend gave me the nickname Smalleen. I’ve been using it as an e-mail address ever since.

  28. I know a guy named Steve, actually the former mayor of a small city here in southern California, who has a stutter (or is it a stammer?) and uses the e-mail address ssssteve@______.com.

  29. An avid Tarheel fan and beach bum, my favorite vanity plate/e-mail address combo is “YouNSea@…” (UNC Tarheels)- I always see it in Wrightsville Beach, NC.

  30. I came across an email one time, which I thought was hilarious. The guy’s name is Todd, and his used ReTodded@ as his email. Im pretty sure he used that email address for work purposes too.

  31. I must say the two favorite email addresses in my contact list are:
    thedarklordspiffyhockeystick@
    and
    tomato_soup_in_my_coffee@

  32. My main e-mail addy isn’t that big a deal but in the place where one is supposed to put one’s own name, I put “L. Rive Gauche.” It’s an elaborate pun. Anyone care to take a stab at it?

  33. one of mine is whiskeyjaqz – my “pen” name, jaqz, whiskey, coz i’m a damn dirty drunk, and whiskeyjaqz as in qwhiskeyjack a badass yukon bird

  34. One of my addresses is YBplain

  35. I have a friend named Addison who is both an amazing drummer and an amazing drinker (the two seem to go hand in hand, yes?) who has the great email address of addrum@ _____.com

    Mine is jillobiafra@____.com. My name is Jill and I’m a pretty big Dead Kennedys fan, so there you go.

  36. It took me a while to find anyone in my address book who has a cute address, but I finally did: a couple named Helen and Ben whose last name starts with T had the e-mail address helbent@.

  37. You get those high school girly emails that are like “super_cute_angel_eternal_xxx_baby_sweetie_devil_69_princess_destiny_bliss_marshmellow” at blahblah.com
    and you can never tell them apart.

    I also have friends with “bobthebuilderrocksmysocks”
    and “cometothedarkside wehavecookies”.

    Oh, and a german friend of mine, their last name is “funk” so her brother’s email was “what the funk”.

  38. My mother-in-law (72 years old) is named Barbara Cowan. When she got a computer and had the technician set up her email for her he gave her the handle: barcow@x.xxx

    I laugh every time.

  39. i used to have “deadletteroffice”

  40. One of mine is “suedoenyhm@ .com.

    I work for a place where people can sign up to recieve emails. The funniest I’ve seen is “dontsendmethat@ .com.

  41. robnoxious@… for an obnoxious Rob. and he is.

  42. I don’t know many people with cool email addresses since UH just picks one for you based on some combination of your first, last, and/or middle names. Mine is just my last name @hawaii.edu. BUT! I have been inspired by this post and I think I’m going to make a new email address for myself: leahtard@blank.com. I hope it’s not taken already!

  43. I love the silly ones my brother make up – but my favorites are their “was series…larrywas@xxx.com, billywas@xxx.com I guess they should do an “Is” series too…..

  44. Well, my husband and I are musicians, we practice everyday, and my last name is DAILY (as in weekly, monthly, yearly) so our email is: dailymusicians@….
    We thought that was appropriate.
    My sister’s name is Amy Evelyn, but thats hard to pronounce so her email is amyeleven@….

    really, thats all i’ve ever seen thats witty.

  45. saw this once on a resume when i was a recruiter

    freakychunkylover69@aol.com

  46. My last name is cho so my email is notchocheese@___.com What do you call cheese that’s not yours?

  47. Where I used to work, they had the ubiquitous “first initial last name” format for email addresses…which worked out really well for my friend C_____ Lang; I’ve called her “clang” every since!

  48. My employer utilizes the Websense program to make sure we’re not looking at things online they think we shouldn’t, and I tend to say things they think I shouldn’t, so one of my addys is
    blockedbywebsense@—–.com

    My husband has
    disgustinganimal@—–.com

    My friend April uses
    beforemay@—–.com

    At work our customers’ e-mail addys are displayed when we bring them up and it’s even better than just scanning CC lines. (No, I’m not saying where I work, but I *guarantee* you that everyone with similar systems does the same type of browsing!)

  49. I have a relative with the last name Danger (pronounced dāng’ər although it looks like dān’jər) so his email is DangerMouse@….com

  50. i have one that is
    alisonisalways@

    and one that is
    alison_is_sometimes@

    (though i don’t really use either :)

  51. My old ISP was AT&T, and they used the “home” domain name.

    The email I always wanted to get my wife was
    SheWhoMustBeObeyed@home.xxx

    Self survival always kept me from doing so….

  52. A friend at work’s name is Ken Rock. He uses rockken@…com.

  53. I work for sales a company where we send email order confirmations. One of the funniest emails I ever got, from a man whose name was Juan…was:

    JuanOftheBest@…

    say it out loud.

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