We asked the question above on Overdrive‘s Facebook page following my brief post about a month back on CBWorld’s online handle auto-generator. Among the responders was Clint Willenborg, who made the sage observation that “handles are earned, not something you make up on your own.” Others shared anecdotes that well seem to confirm Willenborg’s note, with most handles coming from outside the mind of the driver in question.
At once, however, noted William J. Arnette Jr., it’s well possible to earn one you give to yourself, which he did, he noted. Arnette’s “Rock Bottom,” he said. “Every time I get off the bottom, something always knocks me back to the bottom — so I think I have earned it.”
How’d you get yours? Sound off in the comments, and following find several operators’ handle stories.
Harvie Holliday: Doc, because of my last name, Holliday, and yes we are related.
Richard Porky Young: Porky,was given to me as a youngster before my driving career.
Elaine Reese: Country Dancer — love to dance and I’m a country girl.
Edward Lee: Buckethead, because I used to park at the KFC in Hope, Ark. Other drivers thought it was funny and started calling me that. Hated it at first, started to grow on me after a while.
John Bohl: Tin Man……just like The Wizard of Oz, if I only had a heart!
Roy Fruen: I was given Little Hippie by a late friend of mind — his was Texco Kid from Texas.
Jason Harvey: Grumpy Bastard. My mother gave me that handle, as she used to be my dispatcher in the family business.
Josh Ivey: Roadwork, because dumping a load of rock running 60 in a work zone was a good idea at the time lol …
John Fink: Flat Broke, because after a weekend at the truck stop. … well you get the picture.
Steven Carpenter: Sideswipe. Hit a mountain on a tight S curve. Colorado, US14.
Mark Romero: Started out as Double Digit, from when I started driving in 2000. My trainer always thought it was funny that we had a truck that ran 72… But I’d always run it 69. Then last year, I got my Hypnotist certification, and somehow I was re-dubbed Hypno.
Jeffrey Abear: Grumpy… Don’t know why my wife/kids gave me that handle…
Todd Babcock: Road Toad! Toad was my nickname in school, so Road Toad seemed fitting once I hit the road.
Ralph Burket: Gravdigr, because I used to be a gravedigger, and spelled that way because it was originally my online handle back when AOHELL only allowed eight-character names. It was shortened to ‘Digger,’ but I found that handle doesn’t work well on the radio as everyone hears a different word that sounds like digger but pisses off the black drivers. I got tired of explaining and changed it to Big Cat, a handle my stepson gave me, because I’m a 6-foot, 260-lb. big guy that likes cats more than dogs.
Lisa Fryhover Schneider: Spitfire… Boyfriend says a lady with a ‘tude!
Richard B. Snyder Jr.: Started out as Southern Gentleman. When my youngest daughter was born it became Soaring Eagle. After my father-in-law passed after a long trucking career, my wife asked me to use his handle, Phantom 309. I shorten it to just Phantom.