As Gene says, learning the language can open doors for you especially if you cross train with other lines. If you have one Sifu and only learn from your direct Si-hing/di then no need to learn. But if you meet others, sometimes knowing their terms helps the knowledge transfer.
Also, as Gene states, chinese is usually poetic. So while I don’t know what Wanker is in Chinese, Shou Jiao probably won’t do it. No where near the required imagery.
The closest I can get is the Hong Kong (cantonese) phrase for wanking would be “Da Fey Kee” Translated that means “hit flying plane” I’ll leave as an exercise for the reader as to why.
Not sure if Taiwan or PRC would use the same slang. Probably not.
Gene: Not everybody is a blinking intellectual.
That solutions not good for everybody. Some people are just physical.
(This reminds me of the snares of qualifications’ committees as in Turiyan’s post.)
“A wish to go to Heaven is the very beginning of falling into Hell.”
I should clarify that I in no way want to imply that Shi Yanzi is a wanker. I’ve met him once and that was enough to know his power. I have great respect for him.
Now for the rest of you wankers…
phoenix-eye: Oh, there’s lots more terms like that. for some reason, those terms and the martial arts terms are the only ones I seem to remember. Let us know before you next Chinatown visit.
hasayfu: Thanks for the contribution. Perhaps we should open a new thread on this. It seems pretty popular.
stumblefist: You mean wanking intellectual, don’t you? How intellectual is it to remember the da dong? That’s a great nick for someone…
So he wanks with power. He wanks with amazing grip strength. He can break bricks with Da Dong, Iron rod kung. He’ll could probably poke your eye out if you’re not carefull. You can be a freakin martial god and still be a wanker. Geez, look at 80 % of the people here.
Gene, it’s not like i have to strain my brain to remember. Actually i have no brain when it comes to women.
I said the opposite of what you seemed to understand in my post regarding intellectualism.
I think blinking is a softening of bleeding which comes from bloody which is worse to say in England than America.
So winkering might be a softening for wankering? I’m not too familiar with England’s slang.
…
Actually upon further “research”:
“Da feiji” means “shoot the plane” (like with a bazooka.)
There is also “chui xiao” “play the flute.”
And “Tui you” (push oil)
And “Luo guan” (something about a pipe or tube).
and “pin yu” savor the jade (for the woman.)
…
But these are really not “wanker” because they refer to a man and woman. I don’t think there is “wanker” as an insult in chinese.
If only one person is involved it is “zi wei”, (formal), “zi mo” (informal) and also “shou ying” and also “da shou chong” but there is not really the insult “wanker” or “J***-off” that i have yet found in Chinese.
There is “bian Tai” (change abnormal person)
and “gou diao” (dog something) = human animal.
There is also
“Wang Ba dan” (Turtle’s egg) which probably is closer to the idea of “wanker”
There is also: “ben dan” or “huai dan” (stupid egg, bad egg) but these are soft.
…
There is also “da bi”, “Da Pao” (shoot cannon) ,“zuo ai” for making love.
…
You might encounter some of these terms if you go to the “JI Yuan” (chicken theatre) or “Li fa Yuan”(barber shop) or meet some “ji nu” (Chicken Girls).
or if you go courting girlfriends “pao nu” (respectable term for seeking/dating girlfriends)..
“A wish to go to Heaven is the very beginning of falling into Hell.”
Calling someone a wrist merchant instead of a wanker, which is of course low level gutter slang in England, is an insult depending on your tone of voice that people never know quite how to take.
You could also say “go forth and multiply” instead of F**ck off
The original post refers to a side kick as being “warng tak” from what I understand this spelling and pronounciation is from the lau gar school of martial arts in England and is of cantonese origin. It may also not be 100% accurate as gondong wha to “tek” is to kick and not tak, a closer phoentic spelling might be Wha’ang tek for side kick. Where as Shi Yan Tzi is mainland chinese and therefore speaks Pu tong Wha or mandarin. Possible reason for the difference.
[This message was edited by Wong Ying on 10-03-01 at 02:55 AM.]
A chinese teacher teaches two students the exact same side kick. One student learns the chinese name the other doesn’t. The teacher still had to explain HOW to do it in english. Which student will have the better sidekick?
“Can anyone offer some chinese names (with pronounciations) for basic hand, kick, blocks and stances?”
But now i remember…
Beijing Foreign Languages Press and/or Sports University Press (same guys who do all the Mainland Gov’t Wushu books) has a book: dictionary/translator of Martial Art Terminolgy: English/chinese/pinyin. I saw it in a HK bookstore.
Might be easier to scour the bookstores than to get a booklist from that company.
“A wish to go to Heaven is the very beginning of falling into Hell.”
Now extend the question. The teacher teaches more then just the name of one technique. Both students travel to China to meet their Si-Gung. Si-Gung speaks no english nor does anyone at the school. Which student will have an easier time absorbing any instructions?
Apparently their sifu wasn’t enough if they had to seek the sigung. I find that to be a matter of ego on the students part to find the “ultimate master”.
“Lets go to china and find Mr. Miyagi” What a waste. There is no need to go to the sigung if your sifu is competent.
“Now extend the question. The teacher teaches more then just the name of one technique. Both students travel to China to meet their Si-Gung. Si-Gung speaks no english nor does anyone at the school.”
…
Lets extrapolate this situation into the not too distant future.
…
“Both students travel to SLOVAKIA to meet their Si-Gung. Si-Gung speaks no english nor chinese nor does anyone at the school.”
…
I guess they will both be better off learning kungfu instead of languages.
Even now the Si-gung could be anywhere, including Minneapolis.
“A wish to go to Heaven is the very beginning of falling into Hell.”
[This message was edited by stumblefist on 10-05-01 at 02:10 AM.]
[This message was edited by stumblefist on 10-05-01 at 02:23 AM.]
Call me what you want. Like I said before, I teach both in the chinese and english terms. But, it isn’t my main concern. My main concern is that I communicate with my students. Frankly I couldn’t care less if they knew all the names in chinese or not; as long as they could do the move. Most have trouble remembering the chinese name but have no trouble with the english. To them the names hold no “special meaning”. To them, a “ma bo” is a horse stance and thats because thats what I told them it meant. They don’t know chinese, how could they know? If my students have to find some secret code in the terms to be able to do a “ma bo” correctly then I’m not doing my job properly. My “job” is not to enforce the “chinese” way. My job is to teach the kung fu, nothing more. If I say “ma bo” its because its easier. Is it really needed? No. Would the stance be any different? No. Would I have taught it the same way? Yes. Some of these “descrpitive” terms had political significance 1000 years ago and were not even used to describe the act. Why should I bother with dead politics?
Also if I had a visiting teacher that did not try to adhere to what the students have come accustomed to as far as language(that means the cantonese terms or at least their english counterparts) then I simply will not have them there. It is an insult to me and to my line. And I would take it as an undermining of my students.
Stumble said it best, the instuctor was not simply implying that kung fu is chinese derived but also chinese owned. I think we have come too far to play that game; as much as some would like to see it continue. Ask yourself this question, are all the trappings and flags that come with the fighting knowledge there to help the student or just to glorify the circumstance of its birth? I can understand that things that belong to one ethnicity or another holds special significance to them. But this is more an issue of preserving some ethnic identity and national pride rather than the actual teaching of the body of knowledge.
I hate to break it to the world but Kung fu ceased being strickly chinese the moment a non-chinese person learned the art. As far as I’m concerned it is now as much a Cuban art as it was Chinese. So from now on I am Maestro Abel. We do “patadas” and “punos” and “garras” and “posisiones” and “palmas” . When we spar we are “peliando”. When we do forms we are performing rutinas. And when we do “rutinas” they will be indistinguishable from your forms. And judging by our performance in competition the last ten years or so, we will still look better than you. When we are “peliando” we will still kick your but.
