Oh, do I need to explain the Newt bit?

Will it satisfy curiosity to simply say "oh, it all started in college..."?

Not much of what happens when you're 18, away from home for the first time and getting into all sorts of misadventure, makes sense a couple of decades (yikes) later. Technically it's only a decade and two thirds. And definitely one of those 'you had to be there' moments.

Vertebrate biology class. Learning about all sorts of critters, and desperately trying to drive my dear friend Sue over the edge with my pestering ways. She finally snapped. "If you don't shut the hell up and behave, I am going to squish you like a newt!!" "Newt" became her warning word, shorter than having to say "I'm going to kick your ass." It stuck. Not only did it stick, it expanded to reflect my behavior. When I did well on exams, I was Newton. (a la Sir Isaac). When I would take her goldfish for a walk, leaving her wondering why the bowl was empty, I was Bad Newt. When I filled her bed with rubber snakes, of which she was terrified, i was Evil Newt.

I won't tell you what she called me when I filled her bed with cornflakes. My mother might read this.