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<blockquote data-quote="der_kluge" data-source="post: 1910096" data-attributes="member: 945">Short answer: It's the name of a German opera by Carl Orff - &quot;Die Kluge&quot;. I'm not sure how to write up the German pronunciation, but suffice it to say, it's not pronounced &quot;die klooge&quot;.Long answer: I needed a hotmail account when I moved from Arkansas to Kansas City several years ago ('98) because my friend said it would save me from losing all my emails.&nbsp; Given that hotmail was so popular, I struggled to find a unique name that wasn't already taken 47 times.&nbsp; So, looking at my stack of CDs behind one (one of the few things I hadn't packed yet), I found that name.&nbsp; I took it to mean &quot;the clever&quot; or &quot;clever guy&quot; not knowing that in German, the word &quot;the&quot; can have masculine or feminine meaning, and that &quot;die&quot; (pronounced dee) is feminine.&nbsp; &quot;Der&quot; is masculine, which is what I intended.&nbsp; So, the name should actually be &quot;der Kluge&quot; which means clever guy.&nbsp; Instead, I'm clever girl, which is both incorrect, and somewhat ironic since I'm apparently neither clever, nor a girl.&nbsp; The full title of the opera is &quot;the king and the clever woman&quot; or &quot;der koenig und die kluge&quot; (presumably).So, despite the gender identity crisis, it's stuck with me for all these years. I wasn't even made aware of the fact that it was wrong until about 3 years ago.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="der_kluge, post: 1910096, member: 945"] Short answer: It's the name of a German opera by Carl Orff - "Die Kluge". I'm not sure how to write up the German pronunciation, but suffice it to say, it's not pronounced "die klooge". Long answer: I needed a hotmail account when I moved from Arkansas to Kansas City several years ago ('98) because my friend said it would save me from losing all my emails. Given that hotmail was so popular, I struggled to find a unique name that wasn't already taken 47 times. So, looking at my stack of CDs behind one (one of the few things I hadn't packed yet), I found that name. I took it to mean "the clever" or "clever guy" not knowing that in German, the word "the" can have masculine or feminine meaning, and that "die" (pronounced dee) is feminine. "Der" is masculine, which is what I intended. So, the name should actually be "der Kluge" which means clever guy. Instead, I'm clever girl, which is both incorrect, and somewhat ironic since I'm apparently neither clever, nor a girl. The full title of the opera is "the king and the clever woman" or "der koenig und die kluge" (presumably). So, despite the gender identity crisis, it's stuck with me for all these years. I wasn't even made aware of the fact that it was wrong until about 3 years ago. [/QUOTE]

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