What’s in a name? (The ConstruKction of FraKathustra)

I figured I’d better explain the name–what’s “FraKathustra”?

Several years ago, I found an online site to play backgammon. At the time I was listening to a King Crimson recording from 2000 called “The ConstruKction of Light.”   On it, there’s a tune entitled “FraKctured” which is a more muscular variation on an earlier piece from their 1974 album “Starless and Bible Black” entitled “Fracture” (also found as a bonus track on the 30th Anniversary release of the “USA” album from 1975).

Back to the story…I had to choose a screen name, and “FraKctured” was playing in iTunes.  I liked the capitalized ‘K’ in the middle (my name starts with a ‘K’) so I used it.  It seemed like a good screen name for playing backgammon online–cryptic and a little menacing maybe? The name quickly stuck.

In a strange twist, I learned a few years ago that the “Battlestar Galactica” series (SciFi channel remake of the old NBC show with Lorne Green) was using the word “FraK” as a censor-friendly substitute for the F-bomb.  I never watched the series, but I heard it was very well done.  Regardless, I was annoyed to have my stolen nickname co-opted by Edward James Olmos and the BG crew.  If  you want to swear, get your damn show on HBO.  I may be splitting hairs here, but I’d definitely rather be stealing from King Crimson than the SciFi channel (which was itself stealing its premise from a bad ’80s show to begin with).

Fast forward to 2010, and I decided to post some of my opinion pieces in a blog.  What name should I use?  I thought it was boring to use my real name, so that was out.  I tried “frakctured” but it was (gasp) already taken (thieves everywhere  you know).  During the last year, I jokingly ended a few emails to friends with the line “Also Sprach FraKathustra” (apologies to Nietzsche, Dylan Thomas, and Edward James Olmos) so I tried it as a blog username.  Lo and behold, it was available, hence “Also Sprach FraKathustra.”

P.S. I have a related story about personalized license plates and the absurd censorial overlords in the Michigan DMV that I’ll post sometime.