Legion Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 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... Orange sash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drunken Monkey Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 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. post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEM618 Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 I’ve heard the literal translation is, ‘hard work'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drunken Monkey Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 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. post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted May 19, 2004 Author Share Posted May 19, 2004 yeah i knew the translation just wondered if it was the original term .. thx any ways Orange sash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 the "bok guway" screwed up martial arts for everyone especially gung fu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Warlock Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 "When you are able to take the keys from my hand, you will be ready to drive." - Shaolin DMV TestIntro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorin Ryuu Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 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. Martial Arts Blog:http://bujutsublogger.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drunken Monkey Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 ..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. post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kicks Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 (edited) Drunken monkey, your explanation was well done. Your kung fu is good on this subject. Edited August 11, 2004 by Kicks when you create the world's largest trailer park, you're going to have tornadoes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts