Screenname is after a guy from a movie. Or maybe a death metal band from Poland. But not a wrestler.
My real first name was a second choice for my parents. They wanted to name me what became my middle name, but then my dad decided it would be weird because that was the name of my mom’s step-brother’s son. A (2nd?) cousin that I think I only saw thrice in my life.
A name that cool can only come from a place of love.
My username is a variation on Madmartigan, Val Kilmer’s character from Willow. Ptarmigans are a genus of grouse. The name came to me in a flash of inspiration one night, and I couldn’t stop giggling about it.
I knew about ptarmigans as a little kid! They were mentioned in the Pogo comic strip, in the paperback collections of my father’s that I read until they wore down to dust.
IIRC in the strip the Ptarmigans was the team nickname of some college located in the arctic.
Not sure where I first heard about ptarmigans, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to David Attenborough. He’s also the one who introduced me to phalaropes, which I also hope to turn into something funny one day.
I dunno about anyone else, but I first heard of the ptarmigan when reading Jean M. Auel’s series starting with The Clan of the Cave Bear. One of the characters in the book had them as his favorite meal.
In Canada we had a children’s song called “Ptarmigan have furry feet”
Over and over and over lol
You Canadians with your ptarmigans and your back bacon and your jazz music…