Kung Fu ... crappy western term ?

[Legion]

i heard that kung Fu was a misinterpritation of the chinese words 'gung fu'

 

i am my self a 'westener' (lol) and just wondered...

 

btw how influental was Master Chen Man Ching ?... cos its his style im learning tai chi in...

[Drunken Monkey]

not really.

 

kung fu, gung fu is just the closest romanisation of the chinese (cantonese to be precise) of a term used to describe any skill that requires time and practice and effort, normally associated with the chinese fighting arts but can also be applied to anything from driver to decorating to designing.

[JEM618]

I’ve heard the literal translation is, ‘hard work'.

[Drunken Monkey]

not quite...

 

kung fu can mean 'hard work' but it is used to describe the thing that needs hard work.

 

um, let's see.

 

if i was to praise your cooking i could say that your kung fu is good.

 

if i was to say that the plasterer is good i would say he has good kung fu.

 

so it isn't really a literal translation but the meaning is there.

 

when i say your kung fu is good, relating to cooking, i am actually saying that you must have spent a lot of time and effort (i.e hard work) to get good.

 

um, it's more like kung fu means 'hard work spent usefully'.

 

if i say your kung fu isn't enough i can either mean that you need to work harder or perhaps you need to work differently.

 

it's complicated.

 

not much translates well from chinese to english.

[Legion]

yeah i knew the translation just wondered if it was the original term .. thx any ways

[Batman]

the "bok guway" screwed up martial arts for everyone

 

especially gung fu

[White Warlock]

[Shorin Ryuu]

Kung fu or gong fu is not actually the original term for it. Gongfu is usually applied to something that requires hard, physical work.

 

The better term is actually wushu, which means martial arts.

 

In other words, kung fu isn't really a legit term for Chinese martial arts, but it has become accepted by most people anyway.

[Drunken Monkey]

..actually, not quite...

 

wushu does mean quite literally 'martial art' but as i keep telling you guys,

 

in chinese, the 'regular' fighting arts/styles weren't generally called 'martial arts'.

 

the term used was 'wu kung' (or closer in cantonese, 'mo-kung'),

 

which roughly translates to 'fighting-work/excercise/training'.

 

when you talking about learning a fighting style, you generally (and it is a very general way...) say you are learning 'wu/mo'.

 

BUT

 

kung fu is a legitimate general term for the fighting arts.

 

it has only been recently been taken to describe skills other than fighting.

 

the more true/correct way to say you are learning a fighting art is to say you are leaning 'fist' ('kuen').

 

if further asked you can then give the full title, be it hung kuen, lee gar kuen, wing chun kuen etc etc.

 

'wushu' was not generally used.

 

'kung fu' was the common way to refer to fighting arts.

 

it's not about legit or right or wrong.

 

it's a grammer thing.

[Kicks]

Drunken monkey, your explanation was well done. Your kung fu is good on this subject.

Edited August 11, 2004 by Kicks