Words That Lose Their Meaning

[Patrick]

Hello,

We removed a post from this thread in error. The post is below. I apologize for the trouble.

Sincerely,

Patrick

Martial. In the world "martial art" people forget the definition of the word itself. Literally, it is an art of war. When you go to war, you don't pick up your rifle and expect to "subdue an attacker". When someone starts shooting at you, you shoot back without giving a second thought as to whether you can get in close enough to disarm them or not. The same extends to martial arts. When someone is threatening your life, the first thing people should do, as martial artists, is fight back and fight back hard with the intent of killing their opponent. That's why it scares me that parents are sending their kids off to martial arts dojos as if it were some kind of summer camp or day care.

I highly suggest reading the law on self defense in your state. Killing someone you could have spanked is murder. Killing someone you could have escaped is murder. Martial implies military, but most of us train for civilian defense. It is a very rare case where killing is necessary to be safe. Even when escalating to lethal force, the idea is not to kill, but to stop an attack. When someone resists arrest, a cop doesn't just put 2 in his chest and 1 in his head. I was once threatened by a guy for talking to his girlfriend. I did not prison-style shank him. Either of those would have had lifelong repercussions.

Self-defense and martial arts are not synonymous. That is another thing I could add to this thread actually. If it escalates to the point where you actually need to use your martial arts to defend yourself, it is in a situation where killing them would apply. One of the most commonly held self-defense ideas is to simply not be there when trouble happens. Someone pulls a gun on you and is threatening to take your money, you give him your god damn money. You don't pull a Chuck Norris and try to kick the gun out of his hand unless you're some kind of macho tough guy or just plain nuts. If he threatens you, chances are he doesn't want to kill you. Why provoke him? But if it does get to the point where you truly do need to defend yourself or others (let's say some crazy guy barges into your office and just starts shooting everyone he sees), only then would you apply that martial art. In your example, the guy merely threatens you. That means he does not really want to harm you else he would have just up and smacked you in the face. Simply complying and backing off diffuses the situation very easily and trouble is almost always averted. But that's self-defense, not a martial art.

@wagnerk: I don't really see how that applies to the thread since it's not really something that's used often in our society (much less out of context). And yes martial artists shoud consider non-violent solutions to situations. Does that mean they always do? Of course not. So why teach a little kid who isn't even old enough to know where babies come from a martial art meant to kill someone when you could just be simply lecturing them on how not to get into conflicts to begin with?

[Shizentai]

We use words of the martial arts like...

>Technique(s)

>Knowledge

>Effective/Effectiveness

>Experience...

So much, we lose 'its' meaning.

What other words are used so often and so lackadaisical that they begin to lose their meaning?

Any thoughts?

I particularly feel this way about the words "weak," "strong" and "spirit." In myself these terms are simple enough to understand: when I am sick I feel weak; after a year of striking a boulder my front kick feels strong; when even watching youtube martial arts videos makes my heart flutter I feel spirit... But sometimes I wonder what exact factors we are observing when we perceive these qualities in others. If I perform a kata or engage in kumite in front of the dojo, one of my senpai will almost always tell me "That was too weak" or "perform more strongly" or "your spirit wasn't there." Well, as nice as it is to have critique, telling someone to simply "fight more strongly" is a pretty broad suggestion. This leaves me to wonder when I try hard (as I usually do), "Which one or more of my techniques or stances or movements was the cue that led my senpai to see weakness in me?"

[JusticeZero]

Shadowspawn, I disagree thoroughly with your assessment. Lesser levels of force are important all the time.

A while back, my cousin had some sort of stroke. While recovering, he was sitting at home while being attended to by his parents, and my mother was visiting. In the middle of the conversation, he quietly told his daughter to leave the room, then once she did, stood up and attacked his mother. She was knocked down, and after a couple seconds he stopped in confusion and asked why she was on the floor, with no memory of the incident.

I once got caught in between an abusive girl and her victim of choice. I would have liked the option of locking her in a handcuffing position and waiting for police had the rather lame escape ploy not worked. I don't think I could have justified maiming her in this situation.

Situations where you need to enact an arrest are quite a bit more common than situations where you need to kill. I appreciate that you are trying to train for a model scenario, but you should look at a variety of scenarios, and a lot of them call for a lot less force than you are using.

[sensei8]

I think my thread has either taken a left turn or has been highjacked. I believed that is my fault. I wanted for us to discuss words that are overused in MA.

[ShoriKid]

A simple one, humility.

Spoken of. Praised highly, sought after and lauded as the highest of virtues. Over used and with too much emphasis it's as false and as hollow as a cheap bathroom door.

[MasterPain]

"know"

I'm of the opinion that I don't really "know" anything. As a martial artist, try to be like a doctor or lawyer. You never hear them say they "know" law or medicine. They have a "practice" or a do a case "study."

[HiyaaMartialArts]

Just some of the top of my head...

Breathing

Walking

Knowing

Mastering

Countering

Sinking

Floating

Sticking

Rooting

Power

Relaxation

[Drew]

"know"

I'm of the opinion that I don't really "know" anything. As a martial artist, try to be like a doctor or lawyer. You never hear them say they "know" law or medicine. They have a "practice" or a do a case "study."

That's funny, I remember thinking that it sounded stupid when people stated "I know karate" instead of "I practice karate." Never thought to equate it with medicine or law. Good point.

[Dobbersky]

OSU or OSS this has lost its meaning to many Karateka especially. Many consider this as a derogatory term not to be used ouside the dojo, or see it as an abbreviation of Ohio Gazimashita, see the thread on the topic but to me and all the Knockdown Karateka Osu is more than just a word -

Osu is a combination of the words: Oshi which means "Push", and Shinobu whihch means "to Endure". It means patience, determination, appreciation, respect and perseverance.

Kyokushin training is very demanding. You push yourself until you think you've reached your limit. First your body wants to stop, but your mind keeps pushing you. Then your mind wants to stop, but your spirit keeps you going. You endure the pain. You persevere. That is Osu.

[evergrey]

OSU or OSS this has lost its meaning to many Karateka especially. Many consider this as a derogatory term not to be used ouside the dojo, or see it as an abbreviation of Ohio Gazimashita, see the thread on the topic but to me and all the Knockdown Karateka Osu is more than just a word -

Osu is a combination of the words: Oshi which means "Push", and Shinobu whihch means "to Endure". It means patience, determination, appreciation, respect and perseverance.

Kyokushin training is very demanding. You push yourself until you think you've reached your limit. First your body wants to stop, but your mind keeps pushing you. Then your mind wants to stop, but your spirit keeps you going. You endure the pain. You persevere. That is Osu.

OSU, at my dojo, the instructor actually gave the whole student body a writing assignment. They were to research the meaning of OSU and write about it, and what it meant to them.

Unfortunately, a good number of the adults didn't ever do it. I guess they decided they were too old to have to study something or write something? Well, they missed out. I loved doing it. It means a lot to me. I wish everyone paid attention instead of just mouthing the sounds. OSU.