why "zzzp"?

It's a long story...

It all started many years ago, I was still at school - in the Upper Sixth - so that puts us somewhere in late 1989 or early 1990.
One day I was discussing the thorny subject (to me) of "names" with my friends, and I mentionned how much I hated mine and the subject turned to the possiblity of changing it by deed poll.

I had turned eighteen recently, so this was a distinct possibility - but what to change it to???

I hadn't properly thought about it, so we all had a bit of a think.
Various surnames were suggested, all rather mundane ones: Smythe, Jones, Babcock, Wigley and so forth.

Suddenly someone (it was Bob or Jon) suggested "zzzp". There was a strange moment of silence, while the thought settled into our collective brain-space.

After we'd stopped laughing, we decided that it would be a great surname, but it would never work - so we returned to the brainstorming.

The problem is... it never went away. It stuck.

So these days, "zzzp" is my alter-ego.

It'd look great on an Amex and one day... I might just earn enough to have one ;-)