In Wuxia World, how did one get his/her nickname?

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03-05-04, 04:51 AM
rabadi

In Wuxia World, how did one get his/her nickname?

If it is as simple as OYF's nickname (West Venom/Poison), it might be understandable, because OYF used poison a lot and he came from the west border. However, sometimes nickname is not so obvious, like for example Tian Boguang's nickname is Ten Thousand Miles Loner. Who came up with the phrase "ten thousand"? Why not "a thousand"? Also, like those long and complicated nicknames of the Four Evils in DGSD, who came up with those? Mostly the one having the nickname would say that his/her nickname was given to him/her by people in the martial world. If so, how did people in the martial world agree on the nickname (since people are bound to have their own preference/opinion)? If the nickname is self-made by the person having it, wouldn't that be kind of chest-thumbing him/herself?
03-05-04, 04:59 AM
ChronoReverse

I don't know about your question, but "ten thousand" in chinese is a single word like "thousand" and "hundred". So it was probably chosen because it's bigger than "thousand" and "hundred" while not being obscenely huge ("ten million")
03-05-04, 05:35 AM
rabadi

I see. A bad example then. Anyway, for the other example, the nicknames for the Four Evils in DGSD were: Evil Overflowing the Cup, No Evil Left Undone, Vicious Demon Evil Fiend, and To the Core Evil. Quite complicated for me, so who came up with those nicknames for them? (Yup, I know, the answer will be Jin Yong :D )
03-05-04, 05:43 AM
sixdays

well, they are the 4 evils after all...

even the ninja turtles had a theme. haha raphael, leonardo, donatello, michaelangelo...:D

but seriously, nicknames must be earned throughout the wulin world. it could either be referring towards your style (sai mun chui suet "killing without spilling one drop of blood"), or your reputation (sai mun chui suet, sword saint). the more fearsome a name, the harder you must work to keep it...because your nickname is like your calling card. take DGQB, for example...you can't earn the name "sword demon" without some serious work put in, lemme tell ya...

but if you want to be known as the "sword turtle", i don't think anyone will care. it's all a matter of perspective...
03-05-04, 06:54 AM
CFT

Quote:

Originally posted by rabadi
.... for the other example, the nicknames for the Four Evils in DGSD were: Evil Overflowing the Cup, No Evil Left Undone, Vicious Demon Evil Fiend, and To the Core Evil.

Someone else has pointed this out before, but the position of the "evil" character in their nicknames also represent their positions in the hierarchy.
03-05-04, 07:01 AM
Ian Liew

Quote:

Originally posted by rabadi
I see. A bad example then. Anyway, for the other example, the nicknames for the Four Evils in DGSD were: Evil Overflowing the Cup, No Evil Left Undone, Vicious Demon Evil Fiend, and To the Core Evil. Quite complicated for me, so who came up with those nicknames for them? (Yup, I know, the answer will be Jin Yong :D )

That was just a great play on words by JY - basically it was four evil phrases in which the placement of the word 'evil' showed your rank within the 4 evils - first evil probably came up with the titles, and nobody decided to argue with it.

Most of these names are either given by the wulin world, or chosen by themselves. Each title probably has its own unique origins. "Yi tian bu guo san" Ding Busan chose that title because he refused to kill more than three people in a day, while his brother Ding Bushi wouldn't kill more than four (in order to limit the number of enemies they make, I think it was). "Wan li du xing" Tian Boguang chose the name because he had good qinggong which allowed him to cover a lot of ground by himself. "Da pian tian xia wu di shou" Golden-faced Buddha, Miao Renfong got his title for obvious reasons, although it is noted that somebody did take exception to his title and challenged the Miao family while he wasn't home, slaughtering his brothers and sister. "Jun Zi Jian" Yue Buqun was known for being a gentleman and a swordsman, while "Fei Tian Pian Fu" Ke ZhenEr used to be part of a two-man team with his brother "Fei Tian Shen Long", presumably due to good qinggong on both their parts. "Qian Shou Ru Lai" Zhao Banshan and "Ben Lei Shou" Wen Tailai also got their nicknames due to their martial arts - Zhao being able to handle multiple opponents with mulltiple projectiles, while at the same time being a very gentle and benevolent man, while Wen's hands were just absolutely heavyweight. "Luo Hua Liu Shui" was basically a play on the surnames of the four brothers - Lu, Hua, Liu and Shui. The four kings of the Ming Sect were chosen due to their looks, and martial arts, while others were identified with their signature styles, such as "Bao dai he shang" Suo Bude. He Taichong presumably was very good with an iron zither due to his name "Tie Qun Xian Sheng"

There are probably a few names which don't make any sense, but it would be easier to take those individually, rather than examine the whole concept as a whole.