There was a really interesting word in my inbox this morning, courtesy of my word-a-day email.

Pseudandry noun: The use of a male name as a pseudonym by a woman. The opposite of which is pseudogyny (a man takes a woman’s name as a pseudonym). The latter is apparently common in some genres such as romance, where people expect female authors.

I knew such things happened. I didn’t realize they had WORDS for them. Man, I love language.

And so on this Friday morning, my email made me consider interesting things like usernames (ah, the internet, how terribly easy it is to be something/someone/etc. which one isn’t!), and authors I know who have ambiguous names (*coughCharliecough*), and how my last name is difficult enough to spell that I’ve considered (and rejected) a nom de plume more than once, though I’ve never really wanted a first name any different from the one I have.  Also, it seems like women, women’s positions of power and influence or lack of same, women characters, etc. are just floating around out there in the news (Cleopatra’s tomb, the possible appointment of another woman to the Supreme Court) and in the brains of writers I admire.  So, in the words of one of those writers, I’m having a ‘thinky’ day.