Sunday, February 5, 2012

Roller derby names: the art of the matter | Drexel Publishing Group

A friend recently consulted me on her roller derby name (competitors use nicknames known as skater names or derby names rather than their legal names), and I had no idea of the language play I was getting into. Wikipedia holds the only details I have on the sport, but the International Rollergirls? Master Roster showed me the carnival of names at play here.

Punning abounds as a part of this sport?s aesthetic. Names draw from roller derby jargon, a player?s interests, place names, popular and literary texts, traditional labels and stereotypes; and the names reflect the sport?s sense of competitiveness and humor ? punk and camp as has been suggested. But, there?s also a dash of violence suggested by these names.? A quick scroll down through the A names takes me to ?A Fist Called Wanda? and ?Ana?s Ninja.?

I don?t know if my friend will choose or adapt any of the names I suggested (I?m partial to DeBella DeBrawl) in the insomnia-driven list I emailed her, but I had fun inventing them. I almost forgot ? team names are also part of this fun. Philthy Britches and Liberty Belles are based here in Philadelphia.

Marshall Warfield teaches writing courses at Drexel University and serves on the editorial board of the great literary magazine, Painted Bride Quarterly. He has taught two courses on poetry writing for Main Line School Night. During the school year he has run one-shot workshops for poetry and flash fiction. He also tutors. His most recent work was an interactive art/writing exhibit entitled Resonance: Speaking for the Arts.

Source: http://drexelpublishing.org/2012/02/04/roller-derby-names-the-art-of-the-matter/

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