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I recently saw a commenter on another forum ask, "Dr. Buon Rossi?" in response to someone mentioning this Dr. Rossi. He then went on to make what appeared to be critical remarks about the doctor.

I don't know how fluent this commenter is in Italian, if at all, but assuming he's fluent, how would his question sound to a native Italian speaker? Is he addressing Dr. Rossi with a term of respect, such as an English speaker saying, "The good Dr. Rossi?" Or is he being snide?

I know nobody can read his mind and discern his true intent. I'm simply asking how that question would likely be perceived by an Italian.

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  • Welcome to Italian.SE!
    – Charo ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 22:09
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    Could you post an extract of the conversation? It might help us to gauge the context.
    – Denis Nardin ♦
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 12:26
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    The downvoter should explain, this seems to me a perfectly reasonable question (for someone not knowing well Italian, of course, but so what?).
    – Denis Nardin ♦
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 19:17

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It doesn't make any sense, actually.
Dr. stands for "Doctor" and Rossi is a common surname used in Italy as an example in samples.
"Buon" is the truncation for "Buono", which means good. In this context it makes no sense because in that position there should be a name rather than an adjective.
"The good Dr. Rossi?" would be "Il buon Dr. Rossi".

Or maybe he used "Buon" as a name.

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  • I'm certain he didn't think his first name was Buon.
    – Carey Gregory
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 19:37
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    I agree that, as it stands, “Dr Buon Rossi” doesn't mean anything, not even jocularly. Might it have been a pun on Rossi's actual given name, for instance?
    – DaG
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 20:36
  • Welcome to Italian.SE!
    – Charo ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 22:12
  • @DaG His given name is Andrea. If there's a pun there I don't see it.
    – Carey Gregory
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 23:09
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    I submit that the commenter might have seen 'buon dr. Rossi' used by someone else, and made a mistake in using it himself.
    – LSerni
    Commented Jan 20, 2018 at 21:24
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I guess it was said in a "joking" way.

I am not sure if in English "Dr Good Rossi" would make sense. To me it sounds something similar to "the good old Dr Rossi". Putting the "Buon" (good) in the place where the name should stay, it makes it sound to me like they wanted to stress that the fact that he's "good" is so intrinsic to him, that might as well be part of his name. I am just saying the feeling it gave me, it is absolutely not a standard expression, I think I never heard something like that before.

Without much context, I cannot tell the intention. It looks like it might contain some teasing, for example making fun of this Rossi for being too good towards others. Or the other way around, said in a mocking way, to say that this person Rossi is not good at all.

Or it might be said in a "friendly" joking way.

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