介绍:
John: China’s internet users have always been creative when giving nicknames to entertainment stars from both home and abroad. Most recent are Katy Perry dubbed "Fruit Sister" or “shui guo jie”, or Jennifer Lopez is known as "Lord of the Butt" or my translation is “Queen But” so that “tun wang”. And Benedict Cumberbatch known as "Curly Blessing" or “juan fu”. So where are these names coming from? I’m very confused.
Heyang: I think a lot of just come from fans and I think these celebrities should seriously take it as a major compliment to them because they are foreign celebrities and stars and they are having such a big fan base in China that people actually coin new words and phrases to address their names and what they stand for. Isn’t that a great achievement?
John: But I also mean calling someone “jie”, right, that showing a kind of closeness as you said, you know, shows that she’s really popular in the case of Katy Perry. She’s "Fruit Sister", right, “Sister” is like a way of showing intimacy. But then to call someone like “the Lord of the Butt”. That’s a kind of strange.
Heyang: Well, I think that’s what she’s been known for. J.Lo has been known for her…
John: She has an amazing derriere, I’ll give you that.
Heyang: Yes, I have to agree and I think just, in Chinese, it sounds a little bit vulgar for my taste, but…
John: In English does?
Luoyu: A bit vulgar. But, you know, it’s one of the main characteristics of that actress, right.
John: But, what about, what about Benedict Cumberbatch is "juan fu"? What did that come from?
Heyang: It has to be that he was super popular in Sherlock Holmes, the UK version. In that TV series, he had lovely curly hair and maybe because he is so cute to his fans that they think “what a Cute Blessing he is” and there you go “Curly Blessing”.
Luoyu: And it’s also another Chinese wording of Sherlock Holmes,“福尔摩斯”, so we called him "juan fu." Acronym.
John: Yeah, exactly, so you have a bit a portmanteau. I believe it maybe called, I need to double check with the book of knowledge later. But then again you get things like, you know, Nicki Minaj is "ma la ji" so that "Numbing-Spicy Chicken". Mariah Carey is known as "niu jie", you know.
Heyang & Luoyu: Niujie.
John: Then Ariana Grande is known as "xiao niu". I mean it feels all very random, like why would you call Mariah Carey "Cow Sister"? It sounds insulting.
Heyang: Because “niu”, it sounds insulting in English.
John: In English, you call someone, especially a woman a “Cow”, then you are saying she’s fat.
Luoyu: But “niu” in Chinese actually means awesome, fabulous, stunning, gorgeous, this sort of things. Because she’s got quite a good singing talent, right?
John: But then what about Nicki Minaj? "Numbing-Spicy Chicken"? What is the heck is that? That seems really random.
Heyang: Because “chicken” in Chinese is not a good word. It has implications that I am sure I dear listeners know and Nicki Minaj, she doesn’t really have a very great image, you know, it’s not very high-brow.
John: So it’s not as respectful as calling Katy Perry the “Fruit sister” is what you are saying.
Heyang: No, no. Katy Perry is a different case, but Nicki Minaj is a little bit demeaning.
John: It’s not very respectful is point.
Heyang: A little bit. But my favorite is Flirty Adam.
John: I don’t even know who this guy is.
Heyang: “骚当.”That sounds a little weird in Chinese. So Adam Levine, he is the front man of Maroon 5 and anybody who listened to his songs can understand the flirty bit. Because he is such a great voice and it’s a kind of apparently arousing for some people. So Flirty Adam, you know.
John: I like Leonardo DiCaprio however is called "Pikachu", apparently a news anchor from Taiwan had problems with pronouncing DiCaprio’s name, so instead called him the Chinese version of Pikachu.
Heyang: Yeah, but here, in Beijing the mainland, I think we say “xiao li zi”. That’s different usage. So basically, ‘li’ because of ‘Leonardo,’ so there’s that sound incorporated into the Chinese translation. And also “xiao li zi” is like the title for an eunuch in ancient court.
John: What? So you’re calling Leonardo a eunuch? What’s going on?
Heyang: But, that’s not the point. That’s not the point. Because, you know, he is always in these big awards. He gets nominated, but never gets the real award. So he is always like a sidekick.
John: So he is always in the background., kind of…
Heyang: And I say this with all the love. “Xiao li zi”, you know, he is so cute and so amazing.
John: he’s a great actor. I remember after Titanic, all the girls were swooning over him. I was like, oh god, I hate this guy. But actually, as I’ve gotten older and as he’s gotten older, he’s proven to be a very good actor.
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