the use of 'gongzi' in wuxia

[kayla]

Hello friendly SPCnet people ,

I've been reading this board a lot so I feel like an old timer here, but this is actually my first post. What leads me to post here is a friendly argument I have with my friends about the usage of 'gongzi' (công tử - vietnamese) in wuxia stories.

The word is defined by luna_rainbow as:

gongzi - honorific for a young man of a wealthy or honourable family.

I always thought that it should be used for only young men who are in their twenty or twenty something years and from a known, wealthy and/or respectable family.

But my friend, who is an avid reader of of wuxia genre, points out Lu Xiao Feng of Gu Long, who was a thirty-something wanderer, was called "gongzi" in Vietnamese translation too.

I was of course baffled . So is it true 'gongzi' can be used for such case as Lu Xiao Feng, or is it just a 'lost in translation' case?

Could the wise readers of spcnet help me please?

[JamesG]

Welcome aboard as a new member kayla.
I think the use of the term 'gongzi' may be a bit flexible in its use.
If you're interested in the many honorific terms [or less than honorable ones], theres a good listing at the Wuxiasociety site.
http://www.wuxiasociety.org/forum/vi...p?t=52&start=0

[ghostdarTeal'c]

Thanx mr Wizard! Ive been looking for this for ages!!