Stupid response to your training?

[9dragonshijin]

I was out behind my school training 2 days ago when I smelled cigarette smoke and I turned around to see a woman standing about 5 feet behind me staring at me through a chainlink fence. She says to me"i was wondering what you were doing over here, you're doin' that karate". I did not have the patience to explain that it was kung-fu. Then staring at me puffing away on her cigarette she says"i can break a board in half with my foot". She then waits for my response, like Im supposed to be excited by this information. I just said "ok", then looked at her. This is why i try not to tell anyone about my training. I just try to keep it between myself and school. My mother still thinks Im learning Tai-Bo. Anyone else have this feeling?

[txwingchun]

All too often thats why I try not to tell anybody I study martial arts. But sometimes it just slips out.

[EARTH DRAGON]

When I was 14 I started my training at the golden dragon society. They had awsome black silk jackets with embroidered gold dragons on the back and arms. I just had to have that jacket so my mom bought it for me and I couldnt wait to wear it every where I went.
Well I found out that by wearing that jacket was like wearing gang colors and every where I went people would want to pick fights with me simply becuse I advertised that I took kung fu.

In the mall, school the movies it didnt matter but for some reason by wearing it made people challenge you. I got into many fights becuse of it and one fight it ripped. I was so mad but then after not wearing it i realized that I didnt have to prove myself anymore.

Now 21 years later, when someone asks if I study anything I always reply.... I know a little..........

[respectred]

haha, i know how you feel, dragon! i was getting my hair cut the other day and unfortunately, the person cutting my hair likes to talk (unfortunately b/c i like to get my hair cut with as little talking as possible, i'm quiet :)), and one thing led to another (...get your mind out of the gutter!) and we were talking about hobbies and whatnot. so i say i take kung fu, and i was thinking about shaving my head so i don't sweat that much, then she's like "yeah that's what karate does to ya, makes ya sweat a lot!" so i corrected her saying it's kung fu, and again she says something else and calls it karate! this makes me nuts...

another example is when i/my parents have company over or something and my parents blurt out that i take kung fu, the everybody asks these HORRIBLE questions about it...ughh it makes me nuts! i know i shouldn't expect these people to actually know ANYTHING about martial arts, but their ignorance is definitely starting to get to me!

AND DON'T YOU HATE WHEN PEOPLE WAVE THEIR HANDS AROUND IN ATTEMPT TO IMITATE MARTIAL ARTS AND MAKE BRUCE LEE SOUNDS?!!!

:)
sorry, this subject makes me a very bitter person hehe.

-matt

[jon]

How do you think i feel, i study Bagua and Tai Chi every day in a course. I train for at least four hours a day.
Try telling someone you have just met that!


What you do you do for a living?
I study.
What do you study?
errr kung fu!
Kung fu!
Yeah kung fu!
So um what can you do with that then - teach i suppose?
Do people really need to learn that stuff?
Come here ill fu*-ing show you!

Not to mention the millions of elderly people who stop to tell me how 'relaxing' what im doing looks when im covered in sweat and clearly exhausted.
Or there is having to explain to people how ive gone though several martial arts and ended up in Tai Chi. Yeah its REALLY easy to explain why Tai Chi is a better fighting art (for me) than Karate was :(
Or maybe trying to explain why i dont use tension in my Bagua movements but my Hung Ga does...
Im thinking of running up a pamphlet and just handing that out:rolleyes:

[rubthebuddha]

or better yet, there are some nobs at the mcdojos in town who think wing tsun is crap and make fun of it because it LOOKS FUNNY. not because they can beat it, but because it looks funny.

oh, if i had a nickle for everytime i wanted them to throw a jumping crescent kick to test me, i'd surely have a lot of nickles.

oh well. what's worse is that the better part of me feels bad that these nobs think that when they meet steroid lad at the clubs they'll able to defend themselves, so i can't even find any satisfaction in their misplaced self-confidence.

****. :mad:

[red_fists]

I had one Guy come over tell me that my Yoga is quiet impressive.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

Apart from that most People are rather cool with my training after I tell them that TCC is a Martial Art and not a health exercise.

[Galadriel]

"so you do Karate??"

"No, I do Kung Fu."

5 mins later

"Where do you learn Karate??"

"Its Kung Fu"

"yeah, so do you know how to break boards with your head yet??"

"No"


"Are you a black belt??"

"no"

"So when did you start Karate?"


"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"


Sometimes it gets to me, especially when people I've known for ages, still ask me how my Karate is going!!!!

Most of the people around me know what I'm doing (even though they might think its Karate), but I think the greatest fun I have is when my arms are bruised from arm conditioning, and people who don't know what I do, come up to me really concerned and ask me what happened to my arms.
I usually tell them that my ex-boyfriend has slight violent tendancies ;-) watch for their facial expression - and then tell them what I really do. Cracks me up every time!!

Galadriel

[NPMantis]

The best though is when you're asked what belt you are, then people thinking you must be rubbish as your style doesn't use a multitude of different belts with fractionally different shades of colours. Mr. Miyugu says they're only good to hold up your trousers with anyway...

[Sho]

Galadriel and respectred,

Hehe, I'm sure this happens to everyone who practises CMA. Just don't expect everyone to be experts on the martial arts world. Karate is one of the first (if not first) Asian martial arts that was introduced to the western world, so perhaps the older generation is used to the term karate for Asian martial arts as a whole. However, people who have watched Matrix or something like that should distinguish karate from kungfu. :)

[Sam Wiley]

I used to get frustrated with stuff like that, but I don't any more. When they ask if it's karate, I just say yes. If they ask what style, I'll tell them Taiji. When they ask what color belt I have, I just say black, never mentioning that mine is made of leather.;)

The most annoying question I get every now and again is, "so...when are you going to teach me some of that stuff?" I always reply honestly, "when you make an effort to learn it.":) They usually shut right up.

[DelicateSound]

IMHO, in the world of the "Normal" people there are just 3 views on Martial Arts:

1) The confused These people know nothing. My mother even asks me how me "Karate" or "Kung-Fu Fighting" is going. I remind her that I hate Carl Douglas. They don't want to learn anything about Kung Fu, as they see it as either:

*Stupid
*Pointless
*Only effective for short people.

2) The uneducated Frequently asks if I can do a "Bruce Lee punch" Makes stupid "whroooooaaaarrr" sounds when I enter the room. Flicks past my face to see what I'll do, then gets scared when I deflect or trap. Argues that "Boxing is way better anyway" and that "I could still shoot you though..... how could you beat a guy with an M16........?"

3) The arrogant twat Probably took some form of MA, but never got anywhere. Says stuff like "All that Praying Mantis crap - I could squash a bug" and "It never really works anyway, not against my punching..."


I really have found few exceptions to this outside of the MA world.

[Sho]

I personally don't take those people (who judge CMA as useless) seriously or care what they say. It's their opinion and I'm quite sure that telling them different won't change their mind. Good that they believe in themselves.

[Mr Nunchaku]

You can't blame people for simply not knowing about the different martial arts. The lady having a ciggarette was probably a nice woman who took karate once herself. Sure they call kung fu karate and only think they know what they have seen in Karate Kid, which does make them ignorant, but so what? Not everybody knows everything. I do not practice a form of kung fu but if someone kept referring to my art as kung fu I really don't see how it matters. It is not insulting; they just don't know the differences in what I take and kung fu. I never keep anything to myself about martial arts; I see no reason to. If the subject is brought up I will say that I practice the martial arts and if people start saying incorrect things like that I just educate them. If they get mad at that then too bad for them.

The only problem I DO have is when people act like know it alls and say this art is way better than that art or a gun beats any martial art, etc.

[Kumkuat]

i don't have the problem because I hang around with people who are either educated about martial arts or don't give a c rap about them to care what belt/style etc., I am.

[SevenStar]

Why even worry about it? To my parents, everything is karate. To most of my friends, it's kung fu (even when I was taking muay thai) - No point in getting upset at people's ignorance. If they don't know, they just don't know. If you tell them and they still don't get it, then they just don't care enough to know, which is fine. That applies to most things, not just MA. I can go up to some miscellaneious joe and say "I got a 1Ghz box with a 50GB HD, RAID, DVD and more RAM than anyone can imagine" and he will just say "oh, you have a computer?" Besides, the more ignorant someone is of my skill the better. When it's all said and done though, it doesn't matter what style you do, only how effectively you use it. To quote Linkin Park - "In the end, it doesn't even matter-er-er-er-er..."

[vingtsunstudent]

funnily enough i get jiujitsu(?) from my grand parents & if they're feeling particularly intelligent i may even get its real name of wang chong.
i also come from a family who believe boxing is superior but they never seem to want to take up my offer to prove it, esp. my arrogant wanker no it all uncle who i would love to smash.
also when people find out they inevitably say you must be dangerous or something to which i often reply 'yes, i have hurt myself many times'
vts

[Tae Li]

That ALWAYS happens!!!!!

ok, i didt read the last page so i dont know if what i jus said even fits into context.......ahrm ahrm ahrm.

Tae Li;)

[Chang Style Novice]

"Do you really fight that slow?"

No, in fact I don't fight at all if I can help it.

"Does that stuff really work?"

Only one way to find out for sure. (Drops into cat stance)

"Okay, nevermind!"

That's what I thought.

Probably the main reason I don't get the 'you can't beat boxing' and 'ambush testing' stuff that some of you have mentioned is that I'm a grown man (I get the feeling a lot of folks on the board are teens) and that I'm pretty large. Given the opportunity to pick a fight with a 210 lb, 6'2" dude most folks will play solitaire or something instead. I noticed Sevenstar, for example, didn't mention anything like that.

[crumpet]

Originally posted by Galadriel

but I think the greatest fun I have is when my arms are bruised from arm conditioning, and people who don't know what I do, come up to me really concerned and ask me what happened to my arms.
I usually tell them that my ex-boyfriend has slight violent tendancies ;-) watch for their facial expression - and then tell them what I really do. Cracks me up every time!!

Galadriel [/B]

:D haha! i've had this reaction happened to me several times when i forget my bruises are there and rest my chin on my hands or other things like that:

person: 'OH MY GOD what happened to your arm?? you poor thing!' *person then proceeds to grab my wrist and start rubbing my bruises for me* 'does it hurt?'

:rolleyes: no man, you just keep poking it ok?

me: 'um, i do kung fu... it's part of the training'

person: *really concerned look on their faces* 'i think you should quit.'

:eek: :rolleyes: :cool:

[dezhen2001]

Delicate Sound - you and me keep having the same problem man! :p

i used to get that all the time at school, or they would punch, but stop around 2-feet from my face. "see - i coulda hit u then..." <You were 2 feet away from me with the punch and you swung it like john wayne...> thinking to myself but i say "sure you could"...

Nowadays it's not so bad... Most people freak out, think i'm crazy and don't say anything when they see me training hard qigong outside in the morning (repeatedly hitting parts of myself with things or a wall etc.). I've found that dogs are the biggest problem actually... they seem to come towards me and then stop and just bark at me for ages! :D

A lot of other students do see me when i train using the Uni facilities though, but i just ignore them generally. They can think whatever they like, doesn't bother me.

david

[NorthernMantis]

Conversation with a friend of mine's whose uncle "knew" many diferent styles:

Friend: Do you have belts?

me:No, there's no such thing as belts in traditional kung fu.

Friend:Then why do kung fu guys wear it?

me:It's just clothes and it's not really a belt, many people wore it to keep their pants up and the reason why they come in different colors is just the same reason why clothes come in different colors.

Friend:Rolls eyes whatever. Do you break boards?

me: no

Friend:Man you guys aren't traidtional.Praying mantis doesn't work, my uncle said so.

me:Oh yeah show me

Friend: You know how mantis guys hold their hands like this? [makes a crooked crane beak] you could just grab and twist it.Here I'll show you

me:[I made a real mantis hook and actually let him grab me]Ok do it.The guy grabbed my wrist and I went with the force and backefisted him.If I really wanted to prove a point I would have retracted my hand or hooked his


denzhen-

I know how you feel but it's good to pretend you know nothing in those situations or it can lead to problems . I got my friend mad at me once when he did one of those on me.

I was talking to my friend in class, who used to do tae kwon do a long time ago, about last month and he threw a punch at me for no reason and unconsiously I blocked it with an open palm.Then he looks at me and says do you know any martial arts?I was suprised and said how do you know I know something and nod.

Regretfully I told him I did praying mantis and he says oh are you fast?I told him I wasn't but then he started with the "let me see you block this" phase and started throw the punches that stop an inch near my face.

It was my biggest mistake telling him that I practice praying mantis because of what I did after wards made me regret it .
The thing is I was reluctant about it but I went along with it and when he threw punches at me I had my guard wayyy down on purpose and would step back from every punch (big no no in mantis) not even putting any real effort. Since my friend got a whole lot of hits in he said you're slow and had sort of an arrogant expression on his face. The fact that there was a really cute Vietnamese girl sitting in front of us didn't make things easier.

At that point I let my ego get to me ( ) not only because I was a fool but because I didn't want to look bad in fron of that cute Vietnamese girl and decided to get serious. I looked at my friend and thought to myself "alright time to get alittle more agressive". I told him to go at it one more time and he agreed. When he threw the first punch I hooked his wrist and pulled him in making his balance wane and threw an vertical punch (in my style we call it 80% punch since the vertical punch is totally different for us) and stopped it on the guys face.Literally my knuckles were pressing againts his cheek.Then he tried to throw another punch with his other arm so I trapped his arms momentarily and pulled him in again with one arm and did an 80% with the other, stopping right on his cheek again.This time I was in a foward stance with my knee right behind his making him him lose most of his balance.

Right there and then he got mad and said don't touch my face. I said allright but as soon as I let the pressure off he threw another punch,which was more forcefull, towards me and I unconsciously hooked his wrist and and punched again.Now at this point he was really mad and said in a loud voice "I told you not to touch my face!" and threw another punch at me and then another and then another and another. I tried not to touch his face,nor did I want to, but I couldn't control myslef. The reaction was just automatic. Everytime he threw a punch at my face I just hooked trapped and countered. It was cool and not cool at the same time because the response was so automatic I didn't even have to think but my friend was getting really angry at me.

I don't eaxctly remeber what happened next but after 4 or 5 times he pushed me off (I think) and refused to talk to me for about 2 days . I felt like a real jerk just because the whole thing happened over a girl. I felt that as a martial artist and especially as a Catholic I should have known better. The girl was never worth it and neither was my ego.

That's why you have to be careful when you tell non ma's that you know something or it can get out of hand. From now on I let people get their licks in when they start with the poking and the punching to test me. When they say I suck i just nod and tell them that they are correct.If they ask why do I still do it I'll just tell them that I want to be able to walk when I'm old.

<whew I'm done>

Point of the story:

Be careful what you say to people and be aware of the consequences... oh yeah and the ego is very bad thing that gets you into trouble.

[DelicateSound]

After New Years Eve when a drunken mate swung for me and I blocked, trapped and struck to his solor plexus, doubling him up in a mates house until he spewed over the floor, all my friends know I do Martial Arts. I had to answer questions then. Usually I like to keep quiet.

Dehzen - I like the dog idea - a mascot. I'll be training on campus if I go to Birmingham, and I'll want a wooden dummy in my room - but it got me thinking, how noisy are they?

[TjD]

me: "mom im going to get a pair of knives for kung fu"

mom:"are they sharp?"

me:"yes mom, theyre knives"

mom:"no way! youll chop your toe off!" (yes she said toe)

mom:"dont let me find out you got any knives!"

me:"yes mom, i wont let you find out i got a pair of knives"


sigh
:rolleyes:

peace
trav

[NorthernMantis]

DelicateSound-

Man you're vicous one:D I stopped my self from hitting the guy but you went right for the solar plexus. Remind me not to mess with you at any parties;)

[ATENG]

the absolute worst is when ppl say, "hey, what would you do if i did this...or this...or what about this..."

[vingtsunstudent]

hey atteng
i used to live with this little mad scottish guy who luved nothin' more than a bit of biffo.
his style- boxing.
i introduced him to ving tsun & he instantly saw its value.
i used to love watching him explain it.
what would you do if i did this- i'd punch you in the face
&what would you do if i did this- i'd punch you in the face
&what would you do if i did this- i'd punch you in the face
&what would you do if i did this- i'd punch you in the face
he made the econmy of a straight punch a beautiful thing to watch for as soon as they'd move........bang, a fist sitting in their face.
vts

[dezhen2001]

Delicate :

You don't usually start learning the dummy until around the second form or after... The best thing i've found to help training on my own is a mirror (to check my position, posture and things when i'm doing Siu Lim Tao). Also some friends who also do WCK so we can play Chi Sau. Unfortunately they're very rare where i am :(

Also Dummy's are Soooo noisy and if you're in halls you probably won't have enough room to play on it... Even if you get a spring loaded one it still makes a noise. Pity the person on the other side of the wall if u do :p

Nice story though!


Northern Mantis:

That's why i do pretend i know nothing :) People just think i'm rubbish so don't even usually bother to ask me the "what would you do if...?" questions. Some of my other friends who do train ask me though, as they know i can do a few 'tricks'. My response is kinda like vingtsunstudents mates (i guess because i do WCK and also am a little mad Scottish guy!): "what would you do if...?" - my reply: i'd move in to a position when i can hit you and there's not a **** thing you can do about it :) ah, the beauty of wing chun... :D

david

[ATENG]

vts

yep, but THEN you get the types that ask why your martial art is so violent.... i figure these are the same type of ppl that wonder why police officers never just shoot the shoulder, or better, the weapon out of an attacker's hands.

[shaolinboxer]

You guys have it easy.

I can't even talk about martial arts to martial artists (since I study aikido) half of the time without hearing the same kind of stuff I also hear from non-MAs.

:D

[yenhoi]

much respect to aikido.

DO you ever want to learn a martial art tho?

just kidding :D

wooden dummies are very loud, btw.

[wushu chik]

The best question I ever had was, right after class, I walked into the grocery store. I was still wearing our school shirt. Some guy behind me asked me what the characters on our school shirt meant, so i told him. He's like.. "Kung Fu is great. Hey did you see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?" I instantly knew where this was going......i just said yes, paid for my stuff, and was going to leave....as I was waiting for my change...he's all....."Hey, do you guys really know how to fly, and walk up walls and trees, and stuff like that????" I sat there for a moment staring ahead of me at the cashier and then I smiled and turned to him. I said "As a matter of fact we do, everything you see on all the KF movies...it's all true. And if you want to learn how to do all the extraordanary things that you see in the movies, come down to the school, sign up for a year, and give me and EXTRA $1000.00 and I will teach you ALL the secrets that my teacher EVER TAUGHT me!" And with a smile, i turned and started to walk away. You know what he did after i said that?? Asked me where our building was. Can you believe that cr@p?? People are SOOOO stupid!!!

~Wen~

[jon]

wushu chik

"You know what he did after i said that?? Asked me where our building was. Can you believe that cr@p?? People are SOOOO stupid!!!"
* Your obviously an attractive women.
Dont sweat it to much he is just trying to be nice, it may not be in the way you may have wished for but the intension remains the same.
Just be happy that you have such effect on people.

Then again i can also see why on the flip side your proberly sick to death of people approching you with there stupid storys.
Im sure there is a fat ugly girl off somewhere wishing that someone would approch her and just talk to her about anything.

If it where me...
I would have hit him up for a deposit!

[Sharky]

Don't bother mate, she's taken.

[jon]

Sharky

"Don't bother mate, she's taken."
* So am I :p
All that glitters is not gold;)

[wushu chik]

Taken?? I am NEVER taken, I LEAD!!!!

This should be interesting.....but......SHARKY.....who am i taken by?

~Wen~

[guohuen]

You mean the avatar is Wushu Chic?! (Looking over shoulder, checking for Wife) Now I'm going to have to crawl into the refrigerator to chill out!:D

[Frogman]

I have personal seen people look at a sign KUNG – FU and say Karate. So it is true, society has bread Karate into the minds of the average non-MA-ist. I do not pretend to understand everything and don’t mind folks that see all MA as one in the same. I have trained in more then one style and my own wife does not know the difference I asked her not to go telling everyone that I train parsley due to the fact she keep referring to the first place I trained. Then they ask me about it and the one hundred and one question start. I like the PC reference, I have a lot more fun with non PC people then non-MA people. It’s funny how someone will look at you like they know what you’re talking about and yet have no clue. On Feb. 12 the CNY I wore one of my shirts to work, I try to be discreet, well, only one person asked me about it. He seemed very enthusiastic and I told him how to get to the school and so fourth. I have yet to see him in class.
wushu chik
A free sprit can not be caged. The guy was most likely trying to get… well you know. I know I have said and asked stupid questions just to talk to a girl. If he really believes in all that, he needs to seek professional help, not MA training.
RibHit
fm

[wushu chik]

Originally posted by guohuen
You mean the avatar is Wushu Chic?! (Looking over shoulder, checking for Wife) Now I'm going to have to crawl into the refrigerator to chill out!:D

NO NO NO...it's NOT me....that's a chik from Final Fantasy!!! I just stole the pic. Do you really think I am dumb enough to put my pic on here?? SHEESH!!!

~Wen~

[rubthebuddha]

actually, wen, you DID have your pic up here a long time ago, and remember how well the children behaved then?

[wushu chik]

I didn't have a pic of myself on KFO. That's why I was getting harassed!! They WANTED me to put my pic up, and I wouldn't!

~Wen~