Email Addresses

I remember the first e-mail address I had:  brlandcruiser@hotmail.com.  'br' for my name, and landcruiser because I was a bit obsessed with Landcruisers from the 70's.  I thought my email address was so cool, and email was relatively new, so I had no idea about any rules of creating an email address.

Fast-forward 15 years, and I'm now working part-time as a scholarship advisor.  I work mostly from home, and communicate with students via email.  I started noticing that some addresses were less than professional, and had to have this funny conversation with students about the impression they can give over the internet.  Many times their scholarship applications are linked to an email, and the first impression to give a scholarship committee should be something other than "dadshoneybunny@___", "mustang.man@___", "pretty.princess@____", and my personal favorite, "djpoopmonster@____". 

For a high school kid, impression is everything.  They want to dress and speak to convey their personality, so having to tell them that "dadshoneybunny" doesn't establish the picture of an intelligent senior was met with some resistance.  Some students keep two email accounts - one to communicate with their friends, and not lose their "cool image" status, (though you have to wonder how the coolness factor is related to being called dadshoneybunny), and one to communicate with teachers, colleges, and the like.  But for my young friend that holds onto the "djpoopmonster" name, I can only hope whoever reads his scholarship application has an affinity for the unusual and underage.