The Shrine

I've noticed that English, as a language, seems to have a far better than average result in terms of giving nicknames to human (real or otherwise) entities. I'm not aware of too many entities that possess nicknames you'd rather not associate with whatsoever. Sure a lot of them could be pretty plain. Ben Wallace is 'Big Ben' for example. Some can be clever, like Andrei Krilinko is AK47. Generally speaking I don't see English nickname that you'd be embarassed to have unless someone came up with that to be adversarial.

Now let's go to the Chinese side (and Japanese stuff seems similar too). You have Kobe Bryant as "Peter Pan" probably because he flies around as if he has inhaled pixie dust. I would think if I was Kobe I wouldn't want to get associated with a nickname like that. And that was supposed to be somewhat official (of course we Chinese change people's nickname whenever we feel like it). And if we delve into the less professional area like say, fan-based anything, you end up with nicknames that are cryptic and usually stuff one would be embarassed to say about their favorite person (real or imagined). It'd be if Zeus is going around with his M$ deal thinking that's supposed to be FOR Microsoft as opposed to against!

I'm not sure if there's a point to all this. Perhaps even though some places on the Internet looks like they're the bottom heap of humanity, you can always find somewhere that set the bar even lower. Or maybe we Asians just have a very strange sense of endearment.

Another thing I noticed is that Americans don't seem to give out very many nicknames. Take a professional sport, usually only the few really important guys have nicknames, or someone who has a name that happens to work well with something else. Most people are just known by their normal names.

It seems like Asians feel compelled that everything has to have some kind of nickname but there is obviously a limit to how many good nicknames that can possibly exist.

Almost all my guy friends have nicknames, lol. When we are together you would never know what our real names are. I think particular groups and sport teams ALL do this, you just dont hear about them because its inside information. So, the real discussion here is why does the asian media/public feel like they need to nickname everyone themselves?...

Don wrote:Another thing I noticed is that Americans don't seem to give out very many nicknames. Take a professional sport, usually only the few really important guys have nicknames, or someone who has a name that happens to work well with something else. Most people are just known by their normal names.

It seems like Asians feel compelled that everything has to have some kind of nickname but there is obviously a limit to how many good nicknames that can possibly exist.

Not true. There are nicknames that are prominent with almost every player within the Blues NHL hockey organization.

Walt = Keith Tkachuk*
Bumps = Patrick Bergland*
Furnace Face = T.J. Oshie*
Chopper = Al MacInnis
Backs = David Backes*
Cammy = Cam Jannsen*
Chaser = Kelly Chase
Twister = Tony Twist
Jammer = Jamal Mayers
King Kong or Kinger = D.J. King*
Danny = Dan Hinote*
Jax = Barret Jackman*
EJ = Erik Johnson*
Petro = Alex Petriangelo*
Legs = Manny Legace*
Coach Q = Joel Quenville
AM = Andy Murray

*Appeared on the starting roster this season

I've listed 11 out of a 23 man roster. Almost half of the players on the team have a nickname.

and the list goes on with those names people have in the locker rooms...

You only probably have heard maybe about Al and perhaps in passing about Tkachuk's nick name if you pay attention to hockey at all.

Not only that but more common names are....

The Bulin wall = Nikolai Khabibulin~
Sid the Kid = Sidney (CINDY) Crosby~
The Great One = Wayne Gretsky~
The Russian Rocket = Pavel Bure
The Rocket = Maurice Rochard
The Golden Brett = Brett Hull
The Little Ball of Hate = Pat Verbeek
The Dominator = Dominick Hasek
Cujo = Curtis Joseph~
Rolo = Dwayne Roloson~
BJ = Brent Johnson~
Marty = Martin Broduer~
Patty = Patrick Lalime~


And many more that I cannot recall


~Currently on the roster or coach a team in the NHL.

There has even been an individual performance named after someone in hockey for notching a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game. That's called the Gordy Howe hat-trick.

So the NHL, I believe is the exception.

I bet most pro sports teams have nicknames for most players, used by the players themselves. But since most players don't make headlines, or even the first paragraph, most people don't know them.

I say this because the team atmosphere - a healthy one, at least - breeds nicknames. I have at least four with the people I train with.