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I've been seeing world chess champion 丁立人 being called 人哥 all over the Internet, but haven't figured out why. E.g. the title of this video is:

人哥快醒醒!這是世界冠軍候選人賽!2022世界冠軍候選人賽第1輪講解

Presumably, 人 is because of the third character in his name, but that's just one character in his 名字.

Question: Why is world chess champion 丁立人 nicknamed 人哥?

3 Answers 3

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人哥 is not necessary 丁立人's real nickname

哥(兄) is a kind of honorific used amount males of similar age, similar to 先生 (Mister)

張三 can call 李四 "李兄"

李四 can call 張三 "三哥"

It is a common practice to pick one character from a person's name and add 哥(兄) to show respect

丁立人,立人兄,人哥 (more common in Cantonese) are the same person

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人哥 means "my brother 丁立人". It is a cordial greeting often used by fans, or gangsters, to express their admiration/fondness/friendliness towards the subject person.

To form the greeting name, the use of the last character of the person's name + 哥 is popular but not the only rule that exists. For instance, Taiwan's famous singer 鳳飛飛 was called 鳳姐 by her fans, and her mother was commonly referred to as 鳳媽(媽)(鳳飛飛's mother). Note that the latter case is quite common in all social settings (surname + 哥/兄/姐)- 李哥, 劉兄, 王姐....etc.

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Quote- Why is world chess champion 丁立人 nicknamed 人哥?

人哥 could not be his nickname. It is how his fans wish to address him informally.

A nickname would be something like 超棋人, (Super Chessman), as his personal name, (for the Chinese, as you know, it is the last or third character), just happens to be 人.

The third character, 人, (and not the second or both characters), is chosen is because the third character is personal to him, as the second character 立 may be shared with his male siblings or first cousins, and thus not personal enough.

The question is why 哥?

Like all other cultures, the Chinese considers all peoples as part of the larger human family, like "All men are brothers" and "All women are sisters", that sort of thing.

So, calling him 人哥 gives his fans a sense of vicarious pride as though he is part of their own family, like a proud father saying a certain Olympic champion is his son or daughter. So, his fans or Chinese people in general are saying 丁立人 is one of their very own when they call him 人哥.

Even people who may be older than him would call him 人哥 because the word 哥 is also a form of extolment, (an expression of approval and commendation), because the Chinese extols age and the elderly which is equated with knowledge and wisdom.

However, this thing about age and the elderly may sometimes be used sarcastically or playfully like addressing a precocious child, 您老人家, like telling a young boy "You're the man"

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