<p>The plus sign "+" is not a wildcard character. "姓氏" is.</p>

<p>"老" is literal in this context. "+" is a concatenation operator. "姓氏" is a variable, and is supposed to be replaced with an actual family name.  Therefor “老+姓氏” may refer to "老张", "老李", "老王", ..., but not "老blahblah姓氏"</p>

<p>Unfortunately not all dictionary writers learn programming, so concepts like "variables" would be foreign to them.  Even programming books in English struggle to typeset <code>literals</code> and <em>variables</em> differently.  I guess the book 《广安方言与民俗词典》 covers a much wider range of knowledge than barely syntactic patterns, thus the author may not make too much effort typesetting wildcards nicely, as long as the reader can understand what he/she means from the context.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-17T15:03:27.613Z
2016-12-17T15:03:27.613Z
wks
<p>《广安方言与民俗词典》has the following entry:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>【老+姓氏】</p>
  
  <p>生活中常以姓氏加“老”字进行称呼，是为尊称，如“老李”、“老王”、“老杨”等。旧时，民间还对某些姓氏有雅称、戏称、讳称等，如：老牌—指王姓。为讳称“帝王”之王，而从“王牌”的牌谐音排，故称之为“老牌”。又因“王”字有三横，“横”、“恒”同音，故又称为老恒。老乱—指李姓。因方言中有“理乱”一词，意为乱七八糟，又“理”、“李”同音，故称姓李者为“老乱”。老推—指宋姓。因方言中“宋”与“耸”同音，耸有推之意，故讳称为“老推”。老跳—指张姓。因“张”与“獐”同音，獐子爱跳，故称之为老跳。老顺—指刘姓。因方言中“刘”与“流”同音，流有二流、下流之意，故取“流水顺江河”之褒义，称之为“老顺”。老摆—指余姓。因“余”、“鱼”同音，叫“老余”会误会为“老鱼”或“牢狱”，四川方言中称鱼为“鱼摆摆”，故称姓余的为“老摆”或“摆尾子”。老拱—指朱姓。因“猪”、“朱”同音，为避免称别人“老朱”误听成“老猪”而不敬，故称之为“老拱”或“老甩”。因为猪常用嘴拱东西，猪尾老是甩动。老弯—指龚姓。因“公”、“龚”同音，如喊“老龚”，会误会为“老公”，自己觉得吃亏。又因“龚”与“弓”同音，方言中“弓”与“弯”同义，如弓腰驼背，故叫姓龚者为“老弯”。老威—指邓姓。四川方言中“邓”、“炖”同音，炖是煨的意思，又“煨”、“威”同音，故称姓邓的为“老威”。老硬&lt;èn>—指石姓。因石头较硬，故称老硬。老咸—指颜姓。因“颜”、“盐”同音，盐是咸的，故称为老咸。老焦—指胡姓。因“胡”、“煳”同音，“煳”与“焦”同义，四川方言中有“焦煳”一词，故称姓胡的为“老焦”。老粉—指白姓。因方言中“白”、“伯”同音，叫“老白”会误听为“老伯”，觉得自己吃亏，于是称之为“老粉”。老凋—指谢姓。因“凋谢”一词，故称老谢为“老凋”。又因花会凋谢，故又称谢姓人为“老花”。老混—指孟姓。因“孟”、“梦”同音，梦总是昏昏然，故讳“梦”而称老孟为“老混”。老猫—指虎姓。四川人常将虎称为猫，叫人为“老虎”显得太凶煞，故讳“虎”而叫“老猫”。老耍—指龙姓。龙灯是用来耍的，故讳“老龙”或“牢笼”而称之为“老耍”。老补—指冯姓。因“冯”、“缝”同音，缝补常连用，故称之为“老补”。老叉—指任姓。因称之为“老任”会误为“老人”，被人占便宜，而“叉叉”表“某某”，故称姓任为“老叉”。老传—指傅姓。因叫“老傅”与“老父”同音，被人占便宜。又因“傅”与“傳”形相近，师傅是传道授业的，转而称呼为“老傳”。传为傳的简化字。老软—指何姓。因“何”、“河”同音，河水是软的，故名。老浮—指陈姓。因“陈”与“沉”同音，船工特别忌讳，反其意而用之，称之为“老浮”。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I'm wondering if there's an official/standard way to take care of wildcards in dictionaries?</p>

<p>老+姓氏 is okay in theory - but perhaps there is a better alternative (老X姓氏、老*姓氏、老N姓氏...etc).</p>

<dictionary>
Is there a standard for how wildcards are dealt with in dictionaries?
# Is there a standard for how wildcards are dealt with in dictionaries?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-12-14)

《广安方言与民俗词典》has the following entry:

> 【老+姓氏】
>
> 生活中常以姓氏加“老”字进行称呼，是为尊称，如“老李”、“老王”、“老杨”等。旧时，民间还对某些姓氏有雅称、戏称、讳称等，如：老牌—指王姓。为讳称“帝王”之王，而从“王牌”的牌谐音排，故称之为“老牌”。又因“王”字有三横，“横”、“恒”同音，故又称为老恒。老乱—指李姓。因方言中有“理乱”一词，意为乱七八糟，又“理”、“李”同音，故称姓李者为“老乱”。老推—指宋姓。因方言中“宋”与“耸”同音，耸有推之意，故讳称为“老推”。老跳—指张姓。因“张”与“獐”同音，獐子爱跳，故称之为老跳。老顺—指刘姓。因方言中“刘”与“流”同音，流有二流、下流之意，故取“流水顺江河”之褒义，称之为“老顺”。老摆—指余姓。因“余”、“鱼”同音，叫“老余”会误会为“老鱼”或“牢狱”，四川方言中称鱼为“鱼摆摆”，故称姓余的为“老摆”或“摆尾子”。老拱—指朱姓。因“猪”、“朱”同音，为避免称别人“老朱”误听成“老猪”而不敬，故称之为“老拱”或“老甩”。因为猪常用嘴拱东西，猪尾老是甩动。老弯—指龚姓。因“公”、“龚”同音，如喊“老龚”，会误会为“老公”，自己觉得吃亏。又因“龚”与“弓”同音，方言中“弓”与“弯”同义，如弓腰驼背，故叫姓龚者为“老弯”。老威—指邓姓。四川方言中“邓”、“炖”同音，炖是煨的意思，又“煨”、“威”同音，故称姓邓的为“老威”。老硬<èn>—指石姓。因石头较硬，故称老硬。老咸—指颜姓。因“颜”、“盐”同音，盐是咸的，故称为老咸。老焦—指胡姓。因“胡”、“煳”同音，“煳”与“焦”同义，四川方言中有“焦煳”一词，故称姓胡的为“老焦”。老粉—指白姓。因方言中“白”、“伯”同音，叫“老白”会误听为“老伯”，觉得自己吃亏，于是称之为“老粉”。老凋—指谢姓。因“凋谢”一词，故称老谢为“老凋”。又因花会凋谢，故又称谢姓人为“老花”。老混—指孟姓。因“孟”、“梦”同音，梦总是昏昏然，故讳“梦”而称老孟为“老混”。老猫—指虎姓。四川人常将虎称为猫，叫人为“老虎”显得太凶煞，故讳“虎”而叫“老猫”。老耍—指龙姓。龙灯是用来耍的，故讳“老龙”或“牢笼”而称之为“老耍”。老补—指冯姓。因“冯”、“缝”同音，缝补常连用，故称之为“老补”。老叉—指任姓。因称之为“老任”会误为“老人”，被人占便宜，而“叉叉”表“某某”，故称姓任为“老叉”。老传—指傅姓。因叫“老傅”与“老父”同音，被人占便宜。又因“傅”与“傳”形相近，师傅是传道授业的，转而称呼为“老傳”。传为傳的简化字。老软—指何姓。因“何”、“河”同音，河水是软的，故名。老浮—指陈姓。因“陈”与“沉”同音，船工特别忌讳，反其意而用之，称之为“老浮”。

I'm wondering if there's an official/standard way to take care of wildcards in dictionaries?

老+姓氏 is okay in theory - but perhaps there is a better alternative (老X姓氏、老\*姓氏、老N姓氏...etc).

**Tags:** dictionary


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-12-17. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

The plus sign "+" is not a wildcard character. "姓氏" is.

"老" is literal in this context. "+" is a concatenation operator. "姓氏" is a variable, and is supposed to be replaced with an actual family name. Therefor “老+姓氏” may refer to "老张", "老李", "老王", ..., but not "老blahblah姓氏"

Unfortunately not all dictionary writers learn programming, so concepts like "variables" would be foreign to them. Even programming books in English struggle to typeset `literals` and *variables* differently. I guess the book 《广安方言与民俗词典》 covers a much wider range of knowledge than barely syntactic patterns, thus the author may not make too much effort typesetting wildcards nicely, as long as the reader can understand what he/she means from the context.


---

