Finally Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar. Since he get a huge amount fans in China, you can see the news everywhere “小李子终于拿到奥斯卡了(xiǎo lǐ zi zhōngyú ná dào àosīkǎ le)”. Don’t be confused, “小李子(xiǎo lǐ zi)” is the nickname of Leonardo in China. I tried to find who was the first one called him as “小李子(xiǎo lǐ zi)”, but it seems way too hard. The character “李(lǐ)” of course comes from his name “Leonardo”, the first syllable “le” sounds like “李(lǐ)”. Then what’s “小(xiǎo)” and “子(zi)” for?

You may already know Chinese like to add a “小(xiǎo)” before surname when you call someone. For example: 小张(xiǎo zhāng)，小王(xiǎo wáng)，小李(xiǎo lǐ)…… This will make it sounds not serious but still polite. Of course, friends won’t call each other like this. It’s not serious but it’s still half-form. However, things change when you add “子(zi)” at the end. It totally makes it sounds like someone just lives next to you. Leonardo has been popular since he was a teenager in China. He is 42 now, but his fans here like him as a friend who is growing together with them.

Congratulations 小李子! BTW, I’m a fan of him. However I don’t like The Revenant at all.