query: sarcastic antonymic nicknames

David Gil gil at EVA.MPG.DE
Thu Nov 26 13:51:39 UTC 2009


Gunne,

But are any of the Mongolian nicknames you are familiar with antonymic?  
That is to say, do any of them refer to a property that is the 
*opposite* of the one that the person possesses?

David

> Dear all,
>
> in Mongolian, such nicknames are normal. Most people have a nickname, 
> sometimes two or more. The way to give a nickname is differently, 
> sometimes it concerns certain character, sometimes description of body 
> parts and so on. And most of these nicknames are humorous. Here are 
> some examples:
> One friend of mine has the nickname "eyebrow". He got this nickname 
> therefore, if he is drunken (just after two or three bottles beer),  
> he has upside-down V eyebrows.
> Another one has the nickname "muscle". Yes, he has big muscle, but 
> that is not the reason. He always tries to show his muscles (if there 
> are girls!) doing it quite casually. Unlike to Eyebrow, Mucscle does 
> not like his nickname, so people do not use this nickname before his  
> face.
>
> Gunne

-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
Webpage:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/



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