On the heels of discovering the sophomoric linguistic hijinks of EngrishFunny.com, I find this week's Sports Illustrated briefly examines Chinese nicknames for a handful of U.S. Olympic hoopsters.
Carlos Boozer gets the best one, namely Betrayal Skull Dude. (That's Boozer to the left in a Chinese promotional poster.) It seems unfair that Boozer receive such a cool nickname inasmuch as he got it for bailing out of Cleveland in favor of more lucre with the Utah Jazz. Of course, lots of things in China don't necessarily compute to Westerners; after all, Chinese crowds cheer wildly for Kobe Bryant, a.k.a, Vile Jumping Man.Okay, okay, it's actually Little Flying Warrior.
Exploration of the NBCOlympics.com website reveals an intrepid reporter has also pursued this story. With a chart and everything!
As you can see in its last entry, whether table tennis star Porcelain Doll wins or loses, she will weep. Just like real tear-duct-equipped porcelain dolls!Perhaps one of the least flattering nicknames (it's not on the chart) was picked up by French cyclist Jeannie Longo Ciprelli. Given her age (almost 50!) and the fact that Mademoiselle Ciprelli has been in seven Olympic Games, she is affectionately known as Grandma.
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