The Meaning Behind Elon Musk's New Twitter Name 'Lorde Edge'
Is he truly the lord of edge?
Kathy Hutchins Elon Musk, world-famous Twitter savant and self-proclaimed ‘technoking’ of Tesla, changed his Twitter name over the weekend to “Lorde Edge.”
Fortunately for fans of the singer/songwriter, it has absolutely nothing to do with Lorde and her recently released album, “Solar Power.”
Instead, the reason behind the name change, while not confirmed by Musk himself, could be for several reasons regarding his recent movements and actions in social media.
What does 'Lorde Edge' mean?
The very first guess that came to people’s minds was the association between “Lorde Edge” and the word “edgelord” itself.
As defined on Dictionary.com, an edgelord is “someone on an internet forum who deliberately talks about controversial, offensive, taboo, or nihilistic subjects in order to shock other users in an effort to appear cool, or edgy.”
Edgy, as defined on Urban Dictionary, is “taking coolness to its extreme and generally beyond the realm of actual possibility, while at the same time seemingly unaware of how ridiculous it is.”
Musk is known for his various Twitter bouts and eccentric style when it comes to interacting with others and sharing memes.
The Twittersphere watches his every move and the (stock) markets shift at the slightest press of a button on the man’s keyboard.
Remember when he tweeted that his Tesla stock shares were priced “too high”? Shares instantly fell as far as 12%.
Remember his several tweets about cryptocurrencies that caused a massive crash of the entire crypto market? And that’s just barely scratching the surface.
Recently, Musk got into a Twitter spat with World Food Programme’s David Beasley, who criticised the billionaire for his lack of assistance in humanitarian efforts — posting petty statements that asked for Beasley’s plan to help solve world hunger.
Even more recently, Musk made a poll on his account asking his followers whether or not he should sell his personal Tesla stock in order to pay tens of billions in taxes since Tesla stock is where most of his net worth lies.
But his Twitter persona is just one reason for people to guess the meaning behind the new Twitter name. Considering “lord” is never spelled with an “e”, it could be a stretch — or he’s just trying to be edgy.
'Lorde Edge' may be linked to the cryptocurrency, “Dogecoin”
Upon further inspection of the letters contained within “Lorde Edge,” Shibetoshi Nakamoto, creator of Dogecoin, pointed out that it was an anagram for “Elder Doge,” or similarly “Doge Elder.”
Many people claim that Musk is the “father” of dogecoin, and has led to monumental increases in stock market prices for not just Dogecoin, but all cryptocurrencies.
Musk has publicly voiced his support to Dogecoin and slammed cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin that hurt the environment far too much to be morally worth investing in.
The change in Musk’s Twitter name even spawned a cryptocurrency called #EDGELON, mixing the words, “echelon,” “edge,” and Musks own name, Elon.
However, once again, there’s no confirmation from Musk himself that any of this has to do with his involvement in the cryptocurrency business.
'Lorde Edge' may be a video game reference
Over a year ago, Musk changed his location on Twitter to “Tröllheim,” a fictional place in the popular online video game, Runescape.
“Lorde Edge” from “Tröllheim” is totally something that a gamer would label themselves in an effort to role-play their character in their favorite video game.
Upon being asked whether he played Runescape or not by a Runescape meme account on Twitter, Musk replied with a winky face emoji and left it up to his fans’ interpretations — although, this could easily fall in line with his edginess.
Whatever the real reason, it seems like Musk is up to his usual antics on social media, and has been acting up quite a bit since his separation from his estranged wife, Grimes.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.