User talk:Tonton Macoute

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Welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I noticed that your username (Tonton Macoute) may not meet Wikipedia's username policy because Tonton Macoute was the name of a particularly brutal secret police force in Haiti. If you believe that your username does not violate our policy, please leave a note here explaining why. As an alternative, you may ask for a change of username, or you may simply create a new account to use for editing. Thank you. —hike395 (talk) 02:45, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I don't know if I'm leaving this message in the correct place, since there seemed not to be a "here" here in your note (no link per se). Tonton Macoute (lower case...) means "boogeyman" in perfectly good French. It actually translates as "Uncle Sack." "Tonton" is a term of endearment, like "bro" a bit and I have my nephew call me that. Also, "macoute" sounds like "m'écoute," which means "he or she listens to me," which I like, since I'm an academic and love when people listen to me. I studied in France, did most of my research there, and it has been one focal point of my scholarship and interest. I always thought that it was a way to reveal a clue to my identity (To ... Ma ....) and, at the same time, conjure the notion of an avuncular watchman. I also use the name on the Huffington Post as well as sundry sites and it has been one of my oft-used e-mail addresses for over a decade. I hope this helps.Tonton Macoute (talk) 14:13, 11 July 2012 (UTC)Tonton Macoute