The Official 2017 Virginia BS thread.
#738
04-19-2017, 06:35 AM
Fleet Mechanic
#742
04-19-2017, 07:46 AM
Elder User
#744
04-19-2017, 09:44 PM
Elder User
I spell it in all caps, but it actually isn't an acronym. It's a nickname of mine, pronounced "Oh-Tull." Here's the story behind it:
Back in high school, the QB on the football team gave me the nickname "Outlaw." My last name is Law, so it was easy enough to put "Out" in front of it. A few months later, we had a local pool hall and game room where I spent an awful lot of time and quarters. Whenever I scored a high score on one of the arcade games, I'd initial it "O-T-L," which was meant to be an abbreviation of my nickname at the time. A few friends of mine saw this one night, and started pronouncing it as a word. I thought it sounded completely stupid at the time, and made the mistake of allowing my friends to know I felt that way, so naturally, they were still calling me that a week or two later. At that point, I arrived at 2 conclusions. First, the new nickname was clearly not going anywhere, for better or worse. But second, it occurred to me that "Outlaw" isn't an entirely unusual nickname, but unless I move to Denmark or Sweden one day, chances are I'm never going to run into another "OTL" ever. So, ever since then, I've come to embrace it, and nowadays I even have a handful of folks who barely even know me by my real name at all
Back in high school, the QB on the football team gave me the nickname "Outlaw." My last name is Law, so it was easy enough to put "Out" in front of it. A few months later, we had a local pool hall and game room where I spent an awful lot of time and quarters. Whenever I scored a high score on one of the arcade games, I'd initial it "O-T-L," which was meant to be an abbreviation of my nickname at the time. A few friends of mine saw this one night, and started pronouncing it as a word. I thought it sounded completely stupid at the time, and made the mistake of allowing my friends to know I felt that way, so naturally, they were still calling me that a week or two later. At that point, I arrived at 2 conclusions. First, the new nickname was clearly not going anywhere, for better or worse. But second, it occurred to me that "Outlaw" isn't an entirely unusual nickname, but unless I move to Denmark or Sweden one day, chances are I'm never going to run into another "OTL" ever. So, ever since then, I've come to embrace it, and nowadays I even have a handful of folks who barely even know me by my real name at all
#745
04-19-2017, 09:46 PM
Elder User
See my post immediately preceding this one for the explanation of my nickname "OTL."
#746
04-19-2017, 11:24 PM
well my guess wouldnt have been too far off with a reference there... for some reason i was thinking it stood for Over The Line lol. dunno why...just what popped in my head... dunno why i thought of it was for some kind of football reference either... but kind of interesting that you played and was where you got the nickname that came close lol..
#750
04-20-2017, 08:04 AM
Elder User
well my guess wouldnt have been too far off with a reference there... for some reason i was thinking it stood for Over The Line lol. dunno why...just what popped in my head... dunno why i thought of it was for some kind of football reference either... but kind of interesting that you played and was where you got the nickname that came close lol..
Good morning, friends!
Shawn, this was that moment in life where I learned if you don't like a nickname you're given, the LAST thing you wanna do is let folks know you don't like it...lol.
You may have associated OTL with sports because ESPN has a show called "Outside The Lines," and often they'll abbreviate it the same way. I got a kick out of it a few years back when on the SportsCenter sidebar they listed "OTL on ESPN" as upcoming. I was disappointed when I didn't get a phone call....