The Story Behind the Name BigFurHat – IOTW Report

The Story Behind the Name BigFurHat

Friday, 31 March 2017, 22:11 BFH Uncategorized 56

This is not a vanity piece.

People ask now and then about my screen name. Someone just asked in an email today. So rather than just emailing them back I figured I would make it a post in case anyone else is wondering.

Way back in the day, before we were on any website, Irony Curtain emailed a few of his friends, myself included, that he was in correspondence with the editor of The People’s Cube, an exciting event because we all were huge fans of the site.

About 2 days later Irony emailed us a link. We were amazed to see a book cover parody he did of Obama in a post on The People’s Cube.

We wanted to play too.

I sent Oleg THIS.

 

Before he published it I sent a couple more. Hippie and Irony followed up with some as well.

Oleg said he wanted to set up our own piece of real estate at ThePeople’sCube. We called it THE KG3. 

As a requirement Oleg asked that we set up screen names so he could credit us. He suggested it be something that parodied Russian culture.

I had no idea what to use. For some reason I said, “Ushanka.” (Even though I had no idea what a Ushanka was.)

Oleg said there already was a Ushanka.

I asked, “what is a Ushanka, anyway?”

He said, “It’s a big fur hat.”

So I said, “okay, that’s my name, Big Fur Hat.”

Had I known I would have the name for the past 8 years I would have chosen more carefully.

It’s odd and quirky, which is a good thing, but many people email me thinking that I’m Hasidic. I’m Catholic.

Until Karl Ushanka sent me a Big Fur Hat about 3 years ago, I never wore a fur hat in my life.

Lately I’ve been going by BFH, but I answer to any name.

That’s it. That’s the story.

(And it’s the reason IRONy CURTAIN has his name.)

 

56 Comments on The Story Behind the Name BigFurHat

  8. I knew it was from your connection with The Peoples’ Cube, but I can’t remember why I knew that. Same with Irony Curtain. I like to call you Mr. Hat, but when you come up around our house, you’re just “Fur.”

    (What’s the story with Oleg and TPC these days?)

  10. Thanks for sharing! I got my Zilla name before I had a blog. But my story ain’t as interesting as yours, although there was art involved (not mine, cuz I have ZERO artistic talent).
    Big Fur Hat or BFH, I’m just happy that I get to call you my friend. But whenever I see BFH, my brain reads it as BFD, so I guess you are a big effing deal. Congratulations, you are a legend in my own mind.

  11. Someone at the People’s Cube did a parody, and a more exciting explanation for my name, which included a beach scene with me hoisting a woman above my head in order to have a chicken fight. You do the math and extrapolating.

  17. Exodus 18 – Subsidiarity
    17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

    24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

    27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.

  19. Big Fur, don’t worry I’m not like the other guy who went off the rails the other night. I won’t tell Anybody that your real name is Irving Moskowitz! You can trust me!

  20. Just for the record, I’m actually a Vietnamese veterinarian. Before that I was a cook in what was formerly Saigon.

    Bottom line: If I can’t cure your dog, I can make you a nice dinner.

    🙂

  23. You’ll always be “Fur” to me!

    And I miss your avatar. I wanted to win the itty bitty BigFurHat painting you did a zillion years ago, but I think you stopped doing them. *Sniff*

    But your new avatar is just as ‘fetching’!

    For all the years I’ve been here, I never knew that exact story. You related something like it, but I never knew that Ushanka/Big Fur Hat slant.

  24. Thanks Fur, I always wondered where you got the name. I just assumed you had a full head of kinky hair. I chose /notmyrealname because one day I was tired of lurking and wanted to join in the conversation. I dont like to use the same name on forums so I thought and thought…..”hmmmmm most people that comment here are not using their real names…what should I call myself?” /notmyrealname was born! Or hatched….Lol! Found I Own The World through The People’s Cube and have been a fan of both for a long time. I’m still just a lurker on The People’s Cube though. Thanks for letting me be a part of the experience and thank you to all the thread authors and commentors.

  27. Let’s see if anyone can guess why my nic is “Tired Mom.” I know, so creative, so mysterious.

    Big Fur, thank you for that back story on your name. Loved your Kennedy Aquarium submission to The People’s Cube. So funny!

    I’m actually not sure how I stumbled upon this blog and became an addict, but I’m glad I did😀

  29. “‘Now we are even’ quote Steven, when he gave his wife six blows to one.” –from Journal to Stella by Jonathan Swift. I’ve posted as even steven on various forums for about two decades. I followed Big Fur Hat to his site after he posted in the same thread I did at The American Thinker. I think that was about eight years ago.

  31. Thx for the great site, Your Furriness! I think my own alias is self-explanatory – contempt for false allies.

    Chalupa, I thought the pic was Zappa.

    Happy Friday, everyone!

  32. @Steve Brown:

    well that’s not a very exciting story!

    You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Family and friends know me by my middle name Alan. My niece and nephew call me Uncle Al. It doesn’t get any more not very exciting than that.

    Thanks BFH for the background and all you do. Great job!

  39. Got my name over at No Quarter after we all got tired of being called Racist and much worst by all of the Obots, so we all became some kind of cracker in spring 2008.
    I am still a racist after these years, and I still loathe oButthole the half and half sort of a man.

  40. @Loco – if you’re on an iPad you can expand the picture to see things clearer. I almost went with a full picture of Crosby wearing his fur hat, but the code was too long. This was back in 2009. I was on a balky Dell piece of crap.

  42. I’m always honored when Oleg bumps one of my People’s Karaoke posts up to the main blog postings and does artwork for it. It’s a very humbling experience being able to hang out with your heroes.

  46. Thanks BFH, Interesting and good for context. I sort of like the handle and the huge fur hat is a cool avatar. Esp good now that the left thinks the Russians are going to invade.

  49. Very interesting, Sir Fur. Why do I prefer to call you ‘Sir’? Because of your excellent ability with P’shop. I’m good, but you are soooo much better, therefore the respectful address.

  50. Love hearing the back stories of all the commenters. Incidentally, I actually have one of those Rickenbacker 360-12s as referenced above.
    For those who didn’t know, the Founders of iOTW(r) think of The Peoples Cube as the Mother Country.

  54. Chalupa, Irony curtain… guitarists both, I presume. Me too. I have a 360-12 in black that needs to come out of the case more often. My go-to guitar is a Martin OM28, and although I grew up on my Strat, I think I should have been playing a Tele the whole time. I seem to enjoy every kind of music, as long as there’s no auto tune and doesn’t sound like something you’d hear while you’re on hold. How about you?

Comments are closed.

iOTWreport.com ©2024 ----- iOTWreport is not responsible for the content of comments. All opinions in comments are solely the commenter's.