The divide between users, when it comes to naming Durkon's doppelganger

[Nemeean_lion]

Ever since the reveal that the vampire who took control of Durkon is not in fact Durkon, people have been at a loss of what to call him. Some people decided to make up nicknames like Durkula, Darkon or Undurkon, while others decided to use an abbreviation of his formal title (HPOH).

With his resignation from the high priest of Hel position, all of the people calling him HPOH were left without a name to call him, so a new divide formed, as some people started gravitating towards the nicknames, some others started calling him fHPOH, and others gave him that really long and unpronounceable name that I'm too lazy to search and copy-paste into this thread.

With the strip 1022, Roy calls Durkon's doppelganger "Guy pretending to be Durkon". I am a Durkula person myself, but now that we have a semi-official way to call him, I am starting to lean towards that( or to be more exact, its acronym, which is GPTBD). Frankly, what I hope is that there will be a strip dedicated to all of the members of the OOTS having a forum-like discussion in which they decide what to call the vampire from now on. The way I imagine that discussion going is Belkar coming up with some of his original nicknames, while Elan suggests a more Thog-like approach, and convinces everyone to start calling him Not-Durkon from now on.

So, which name are you all leaning towards for Durkon's doppelganger at this point?

[Vinyadan]

Dorkula, because I don't like him

[hroþila]

I call him Durkon, because that's the only name he's ever answered to. He's not Durkon, Roy's friend, but he's still a Durkon.

Usually the context makes it perfectly clear who I'm referring to. Otherwise, I may call him "Vampire Durkon".

[Remagamer]

I lean towards the unpronounceable one. What is it again?
...Fishy-Murgle-Smack?

[Pyrous]

and others gave him that really long and unpronounceable name that I'm too lazy to search and copy-paste into this thread.

Do you mean Phyrnglsnyx? It's perfectly pronounceable as fear-en-gil-sniks or as [fyːrŋlˌsnɪks].

So, which name are you all leaning towards for Durkon's doppelganger at this point?

Phyrnglsnyx. Actually no, I prefer Ph'rnglsn'x.

[Gift Jeraff]

Durkoff is still the best.

[factotum]

Don't see what's wrong with Durkula--it's entirely obvious who you're referring to when you use it, and it gives a neat method of differentiating between the evil vampire spirit currently inhabiting Durkon's body, and the original Durkon spirit imprisoned in his head.

[Keltest]

I too prefer the jumble of pronounceable yet difficult to remember letters and syllables.

[Jasdoif]

My reasoning hasn't changed since the first thread on this topic: Until/Unless it becomes apparent that his designated understudy in the Godsmoot is not his thrall and therefore subject to his every whim, he's the still the de facto High Priest of Hel; so I'm sticking with HPoH for now.

[Peelee]

My reasoning hasn't changed since the first thread on this topic: Until/Unless it becomes apparent that his designated understudy in the Godsmoot is not his thrall and therefore subject to his every whim, he's the still the de facto High Priest of Hel; so I'm sticking with HPoH for now.

Hihg Priest In Exile, in a way?

[Legato Endless]

My reasoning hasn't changed since the first thread on this topic: Until/Unless it becomes apparent that his designated understudy in the Godsmoot is not his thrall and therefore subject to his every whim, he's the still the de facto High Priest of Hel; so I'm sticking with HPoH for now.

Agreed. Durkula is just painful to read.

[DaggerPen]

I'm quite sold on Guy Pretending To Be Durkon (GPTBD). Vampire In Durkon's Body (VIDB) isn't bad, though.

(Personally, I never minded Durkula, but apparently some people are allergic to it, so I'm fine with something else. I will use that horrifying alphabet soup of a name, however, when someone forcibly types it with my cold, dead fingers.)

[Bulldog Psion]

Lurky Corpsewhiskers. If it's good enough for the Belkster, etc.

And, of course, Macey Shadows for the new High Priestess.

[ti'esar]

I call him the High Priest of Hel or "Durkon". The transfer of his position is a sham, after all.

I don't know why people find some of the nicknames annoying (except for the new unspellable one, at least), but I don't see much reason to use them either.

[Ruck]

Don't see what's wrong with Durkula--it's entirely obvious who you're referring to when you use it, and it gives a neat method of differentiating between the evil vampire spirit currently inhabiting Durkon's body, and the original Durkon spirit imprisoned in his head.

I use Durkula or not-Durkon. Clarity and ease of communication is important. Acronyms and deliberately difficult jumbles of consonants do not accomplish that.

[goodpeople25]

I used to use HPoH, but now i prefer "Durkon"

[Domino Quartz]

I use HPoH. Considering that the other priests of Hel are his thralls, I don't think he's actually stopped being Hel's high priest.

[Fey]

Standards:

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Durkula, Durkon, the vampire, Durks, Durkoff, Darth Durk for all I care. Anything that isn't too unwieldy and, in context, is understood by everyone. That's the weakness of Phyrnglsnyx or any of the abbreviations, you have to be in on the joke to be in on the conversation. GPTBD is only a good name when everyone in the discussion realizes what the abbreviation is supposed to mean. If you do want to go the way of abbreviations, than shorter is better. HPOH is still pretty easy to memorize and/or figure out, TGWSBBAHWTBMH is a little harder.

(Yes, that actually stands for something, I'm not going to say for what, that way I either get a demonstration of my point, or I get to be impressed.)

[Deliverance]

Ever since the reveal that the vampire who took control of Durkon is not in fact Durkon, people have been at a loss of what to call him. Some people decided to make up nicknames like Durkula, Darkon or Undurkon, while others decided to use an abbreviation of his formal title (HPOH).

And then there are yet others who are not into such shenanigans and call the vampire by the name he answers to, Durkon, safe in the knowledge that it is clear from the context in a given post whether we are talking about the vampire spirit or the dwarf soul.

[Emperordaniel]

I'm still calling him Phyrnglsnyx until he gives himself an actual name.

[Keltest]

I'm still calling him Phyrnglsnyx until he gives himself an actual name.

and possibly after, if it isn't appropriately silly.

[Roland Itiative]

Honestly, I don't see what's so wrong with Durkula. It conveys the message well enough that someone who comes into the forum for the first time is capable of figuring out the meaning without needing some extra context (which the unpronounceable name and HPoH, when it only shows up as an acronym during any given conversation, fail to do).

There are a bunch of other names that also fit this criteria, and they're all equally fine. But calling Durkula "Jfoadjwofjsi" or whatever is just bad communication in a medium that is supposed to cater to a somewhat broad audience.

[Vinyadan]

There are a bunch of other names that also fit this criteria, and they're all equally fine. But calling Durkula "Jfoadjwofjsi" or whatever is just bad communication in a medium that is supposed to cater to a somewhat broad audience.

It's actually an insider joke. The comic has a relatively broad audience, but the forum is a community, and it tends to make jokes which aren't understandable by outsiders: "Haley is half-celestial! Everything is Trigak! The vampire called gymnosphynx!"

[goodpeople25]

It's actually an insider joke. The comic has a relatively broad audience, but the forum is a community, and it tends to make jokes which aren't understandable by outsiders: "Haley is half-celestial! Everything is Trigak! The vampire called gymnosphynx!"

The vampire is a Gynosphinx?

While i'm sure this could add another level of humor for the tavern goers in #710, the Gynosphinx is a Magical beast which i'm pretty sure is incompatible with the vampire template.

[Vinyadan]

The vampire is a Gynosphinx?

While i'm sure this could add another level of humor for the tavern goers in #710, the Gynosphinx is a Magical beast which i'm pretty sure is incompatible with the vampire template.

No, it's just that I couldn't remember how the actual fake unpronounceable name is, and there is an X in it. Phylostorgix? Anyway, writing Gymnosphynx instead of Gynosphynx is another insider joke - Gyno- means "womanly", Gymno- means "naked" Sphynx.

[Rift_Wolf]

I was worried this might start...

I tend to use HpoH until someone else breaks the Phyrnglsnyx barrier in a thread, then I accept that it's use isn't my fault and other people who can figure out how to change their sigs (I'm on the mobile site only) bear the burden of explaining how the name came about.

Bear in mind Phyrnglsnyx is the 'Brooklyn Rage' of my jokes. It was never meant to catch on.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

I've mostly gone for Durkula up to this point, but maybe TEFKAHPOH (The Entity Formerly Known As `High Priest of Hel`) might be worth considering - it has the merit of actually being pronounceable, unlike most of the initialisms.

[Quild]

I'm not fond of Durkula, Durkoff, Undurkon, Darkon and that kind of names because in my mind, in the same way than "Vampire Durkon", they only work if the vampire was Evil Durkon. But he's not.

I found HPoH quite flawless from #946 to #1017, so fHPoH will do for the moment.

Also I find it fun that the forumites have so many different names for him. We sound like Belkar :D

[Sir_Leorik]

I'm going to take a page from D&D history, and call the vampire "The Creature Durkon". Of course the original Durkon probably didn't have ranks in "Craft: Alchemy", so I can't call him "The Alchemist Durkon".

(Ten points to anyone who gets the reference!)