JayLo ‘Lord of Butts’ in China

Shanghai – When it comes to Chinese names for Western celebrities, “Sweet Tea” is definitely hot, “Fruit Sister” is off the menu, and an ample posterior can have you anointed “Lord of Butt”.

Chinese is expressed using idiomatic characters rather than an alphabet, making it difficult to use the language to transliterate foreign names, and opening the door for a range of creative and often bizarre appellations for well-known stars.

The recent Academy Awards minted a new star in China, Timothee Chalamet, a best actor nominee for – ironically – Call Me By Your Name. He is known as Tian Cha (or “Sweet Tea”), a play on the first syllables in his names and a nod to his good looks.

He is now among the hottest celebrities on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, the subject of posts like: “Come and drink this cup of sweet tea, until the summer.”

Things are not so sweet these days, however, for Shui Guo Jie (or “Fruit Sister”), also known as Katy Perry, so dubbed because of the fruit-coloured costumes she is known to perform in. But most names are more logical.

British actor Tom Hardy is known as “Tang Lao Shi”. “Lao Shi” means “always wet”, apparently because of his typically slicked-back hair. Another hair-inspired name belongs to Benedict Cumberbatch, who sports a curly top in the Sherlock Holmes series and has been dubbed Juan Fu (“Curly blessing”).

It is Jennifer Lopez’s gorgeous derriere that earned her that designation Luo Ba – “Lord of Butt”.