If you didn’t know, people over in China are crazy about NBA basketball.
Chinese fans go rabid over their hometown stars such as Zhou Qi, Yi Jianlian, and Jeremy Lin, even if the last is only half-Asian. Hell, the Chinese are so crazy about basketball, the government paired the tallest women and tallest man in China, producing a child later known as Yao Ming.
Because of the language barrier however, when it comes to describing the game of basketball over in China — particularly player’s nicknames — the nation’s fans have taken some liberties with translating from English to Chinese.
Japanese and East Asian historian Nick Kapur — who also happens to be an NBA fan — has gone to the effort of describing some of the league’s best Chinese nicknames on Twitter.
A thread of Chinese internet nicknames for NBA players.
China is crazy for the NBA, but official sources use boring phonetic transcriptions, failing to take advantage of Chinese characters having both sound and meaning. Chinese netizens have "improved" on these official names.
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
LeBron James
Lebron James – 小皇帝 "The Little Emperor"
A play on the English "King James" that is also a slang term for a "spoiled only child" under China's "One Child Policy"
Used more when Lebron was young but now mostly by Lebron haters. His fans prefer 詹皇 (Zhan Wang or "King James").
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook – 威少 "Wei Dude"
Russ's phonetic name in Chinese (衛斯特布魯克 wei si te bu lu ke) is really long so they shortened it to "Wei Dude."
They also upgraded the "wei" from "guarding" (衛) to "dominating" (威).
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Steph Curry (Easily one of the best)
Steph Curry – 库昊 "fucks the sky"
This is an extremely elaborate pun. One of Curry's phonetic names is 库里 (ku li) and the second character is a combination of the characters 日 ("sun") and 土 ("ground"). But 日 is also slang for "fuck." 1/3
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Nick expands on why the Chinese have given Curry one of the best nicknames in sports:
“Given Curry’s penchant for launching shots into the sky, Chinese netizens apparently felt it would be more apropos to name him “fucks the sky” instead of “fucks the ground,” so they replaced “earth” (土) with “sky” (天) in the second character. Other common nicknames for Steph Curry include “Sprout God” (萌神) and “The Elementary School Student” (小学生), both playing on his diminutive stature.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis Antetokounmpo – 字母哥 "Letters Bro"
Because his last name has…so…many…letters!
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Manu Ginobili
Manu Ginobili – 妖刀 "The Demon Blade"
Perhaps the coolest nickname of them all, Ginobili earned this moniker for his ability to slash to the hoop using tricky footwork like the Eurostep.
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O'Neal – 大鲨鱼 "The Giant Shark"
Derives from the fact that the first sound in the Chinese word for "shark" (shayu) sounds like the first sound in "Shaquille."
Toward the end of his career, he was frequently called "O'Fat" (奥胖) – a play on "O'Neal."
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony – 甜瓜 "Melon"
Because his English nickname "Melo" sounds like the English word "melon" which they then translated into Chinese (pronounced tian gua).
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordon – 帮主 "Gang Boss"
Jordan's ordinary name in Chinese is 乔丹 (qiao dan), but Qiao is also the surname of Qiao Feng, the leader of the "Beggars' Sect" in popular wuxia martial arts novels, often known simply as "Gang Boss Qiao" (乔帮主).
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
