We need new similes!

[Bill Mattocks]

I have to laugh...

Sometimes, we perform certain movements in the dojo and our Sensei will use some tried-and-true method of explaining how to do it by explaining something similar to it that the student is familiar with. Problem is, times are changing.

One of our upper-body blocks involves bringing the hand to the ear and then delivering a backfist. It's described as 'answering the phone.' The problem is, that's not how today's kids answer a 'phone'. Their concept of a phone and how you answer one is somewhat different from the doddering old fogies brigade (meaning my generation), so the suggestion doesn't actually enlighten them, it mystifies them.

Same for suggestions that they "swing it like a baseball bat." Yeah, some of them have never swung a baseball bat. Or thrown a football. Or swung a golf club. You can't describe pushing off with one foot like you would if you were ice skating, because they can't ice skate. "Bend your knees like you're shooting a basket." Yeah, they never did that either...

How about describing how when you punch with the right fist, the left arm retracts, generating power? "Like a locomotive, chugga-chugga, back and forth." Yep, no clue.

I remember a recent popular song about 'shaking it' like a 'Polaroid picture'. Which is kind of funny; does anyone under 20 even remember what a Polaroid photo was? And the peel-apart Polaroids were from my day; even the last gasp of Polaroids didn't require any 'shaking' to develop.

So it's clear we need new similes (not smilies) to describe the physical movements made in martial arts. Any thoughts, or similar stories to share?

 

[jks9199]

It's become a running joke in my club... For a long time, I'd use an example, and say something like "It's like standing when you bent the axle on a Matchbox car", and one student would get a blank look. "You've never done that, huh?" OK, I admit, sometimes, my example isn't something a lot of people have done, like standing behind a waterfall. But this kid? It seemed like NOTHING I said was in his experience! "You're not the Roadrunner; you can't claim ignorance of the law of gravity and hover." Blank look. "It's like opening a sliding closet door." Never done that....

 

[Bill Mattocks]

It's become a running joke in my club... For a long time, I'd use an example, and say something like "It's like standing when you bent the axle on a Matchbox car", and one student would get a blank look. "You've never done that, huh?" OK, I admit, sometimes, my example isn't something a lot of people have done, like standing behind a waterfall. But this kid? It seemed like NOTHING I said was in his experience! "You're not the Roadrunner; you can't claim ignorance of the law of gravity and hover." Blank look. "It's like opening a sliding closet door." Never done that....

"It's like getting smacked with a section of Hot Wheels track." Blank stare.

 

[Steve]

Talking on the phone is used a lot in BJJ. You answer the phone to defend from a cross collar choke. You talk on the phone to trap your opponent's arm. Comes up quite a bit.

Funny to think that kids are more used to hands free than holding the damned thing up to their ear.

There's a reversal from side control bottom where I learned it called the "curly". It's now called the "homer" because more kids know who he is than Curly from the 3 stooges. Of course, Homer is becoming passe, too.

 

[Cyriacus]

Well, as long as Assault Rifles dont get replaced over time, the Comparisons my Instructor makes will always be Understood!

A... Oh, wait... Most People have never used an Assault Rifle...
Theyre still Great Comparisons!

 

[Carol]

Maybe we don't need similies at all, we just need good instruction from a patient instructor. I always did much better when my instructor simply showed me precisely what he wanted. Or even better, he pushed me in to the position so I could feel what it was like.

 

[NSRTKD]

Well in my school when little kids learn the low block chamber to the ear, the instructors say "grab your ear and throw it away" and for the knifehand, same chamber with open hand, they say "smack your cheek and throw it away" but that's about as creative as we have gotten lol... could use some new ones too I guess haha

 

[Makalakumu]

Maybe that's why the old masters simply said, "like this..."

And then showed it. They were old.

 

[oftheherd1]

Maybe we don't need similies at all, we just need good instruction from a patient instructor. I always did much better when my instructor simply showed me precisely what he wanted. Or even better, he pushed me in to the position so I could feel what it was like.

I didn't suppose you were that old.

I actually agree. It is also important in Hapkido. It does take more time, but I think it is the better way if simply showing it hasn't worked. Some things if you only show, it will take much longer than if you move their hands for them.

 

[jks9199]

Some things just can't really be shown or demonstrated. Similes and analogies are the best tool I've found. They're not perfect -- but they beat simply repeating "No, tighten your forearm." Or "Keep your back straight." Or trying to explain rooting... You can see it's absence, if you know what to look for, but you can't see what a person is doing to root and you can't (OK, I can't... maybe someone can) just make someone root by shifting them into position.

 

[Steve]

I didn't realize that this forum was so anti-simile. I like them. In my opinion, a good simile is like a good book. No, wait. It's like a refreshing beer... or... wait. In the right context, a good simile is better than a pat on the back. It doesn't leave you dangling like a fish on a hook. No. It gets to the point, like a sharp tack. That's it. A good simile is like a sharp tack. Or a nail....

Oh, nevermind.

The secret, by the way, to a well executed keylock is to turn your wrists like you're riding the throttle on a motorcycle. Even kids get that one and it makes the keylock very tight.

 

[Monroe]

It's become a running joke in my club... For a long time, I'd use an example, and say something like "It's like standing when you bent the axle on a Matchbox car", and one student would get a blank look. "You've never done that, huh?" OK, I admit, sometimes, my example isn't something a lot of people have done, like standing behind a waterfall. But this kid? It seemed like NOTHING I said was in his experience! "You're not the Roadrunner; you can't claim ignorance of the law of gravity and hover." Blank look. "It's like opening a sliding closet door." Never done that....

I had to google matchbox car and the roadrunner.

I am surprised the sliding door example.

I had someone trying to explain a technique and said it was just like putting a needle on a record. How many people under 40 have used a record player?

My daughter made me feel ancient last week. We were visiting someone's house and they had dial-up internet, she hadn't heard that sound before. She asked if that was what I used in the olden days. Yes, (specifically the decade I was born in, the 80's) the 20th century is the olden days. I asked her friends and they are quite sure that the olden days was the century before they were born.

 

[yak sao]

When practicing a footwork drill, a lot of times I'll say move to 3 o'clock, or 10 o' clock or whatever, and these yahoos only know digital....along that same line, it's a matter of time before using clockwise and counter clockwise as directions go the way of the buggy whip

 

[Cyriacus]

When practicing a footwork drill, a lot of times I'll say move to 3 o'clock, or 10 o' clock or whatever, and these yahoos only know digital....along that same line, it's a matter of time before using clockwise and counter clockwise as directions go the way of the buggy whip

Well, until a better System is Developed, its safe.

The way I look at it is; Soldiers need to be able to Verbally Identify Directions relevant to their Position.
O'Clocks do a great job of that.
NSEW could do it, but thatd be confused with actual Compass Directions.

 

[David43515]

When I`m teaching people to step and twist on the ball of their front foot while throwing a hook puch I always tell them to imagine stepping on a cockroach or a ciggarete butt. It gets them to twist so they get the power from their hips instead of their arms.

Another one I use "carrying a tray" for the bong sau/ palm up block. Or "checking your hair" for the short vertical elbow spear/ vertical elbow sheild. Wiping your palm across your hair to the back of the neck brings the elbow out in front of the face to the position you want.

In my English classes, I always taught kids to begin a phone conversation by saying "This is _________" and stating their name. I had a kid ask me why because he`d never seen a phone w/o caller ID.

 

[Carol]

I didn't suppose you were that old.

I actually agree. It is also important in Hapkido. It does take more time, but I think it is the better way if simply showing it hasn't worked. Some things if you only show, it will take much longer than if you move their hands for them.

I'm old...just ask those teens, they said so. :lol2:

I've always been so much of a kinaesthetic learner. Its definitely not the most convenient attribute to have, but my heart and gratitude goes out to the instructors that "get" that not all of us learn the same way and do their best to help us :asian:

 

[Xue Sheng]

I have to laugh...

Sometimes, we perform certain movements in the dojo and our Sensei will use some tried-and-true method of explaining how to do it by explaining something similar to it that the student is familiar with. Problem is, times are changing.

One of our upper-body blocks involves bringing the hand to the ear and then delivering a backfist. It's described as 'answering the phone.' The problem is, that's not how today's kids answer a 'phone'. Their concept of a phone and how you answer one is somewhat different from the doddering old fogies brigade (meaning my generation), so the suggestion doesn't actually enlighten them, it mystifies them.

Same for suggestions that they "swing it like a baseball bat." Yeah, some of them have never swung a baseball bat. Or thrown a football. Or swung a golf club. You can't describe pushing off with one foot like you would if you were ice skating, because they can't ice skate. "Bend your knees like you're shooting a basket." Yeah, they never did that either...

How about describing how when you punch with the right fist, the left arm retracts, generating power? "Like a locomotive, chugga-chugga, back and forth." Yep, no clue.

I remember a recent popular song about 'shaking it' like a 'Polaroid picture'. Which is kind of funny; does anyone under 20 even remember what a Polaroid photo was? And the peel-apart Polaroids were from my day; even the last gasp of Polaroids didn't require any 'shaking' to develop.

So it's clear we need new similes (not smilies) to describe the physical movements made in martial arts. Any thoughts, or similar stories to share?

For some reason poke it like an iPod or neat it like a Blackberry just does not work for me