WTH? I signed for a contradiction, not an argument. Oh, sorry, down the hallway…
okay l will give you a contradiction . l dont believe doing a slow form gives the body much. the human body reacts to challenge . l did the slow form for about 2 years as its for beginners . it did not make me faster . what mqakes one quicker is moveing quicker not slower. now if ones been ill l can see it but not for extended periods of time . there are some real teachers out there who would say the same thing. the human body in order to keep it healthy has to be challenged . l have taught some great fighters over my years non of which would have been any good doing tai chi as a old mans excercise . it wont teach to react quickly enough as l said before all the old timers who taught in china and h.k. had also learned other things .
lol@someone being arrogant enough to proclaim themselves as “sifu” in their screen name…
Maybe they actually are a sifu? Maybe it is just their goal? If you look at the usernames on here, some of them may not actually reflect reality.
@Sifunat – are you actually a sifu?
For myself, “meataxe” is actually representative. Ask someone who knows me. :5yinyang:
Does the Pope go around calling himself His Holiness?
Says the guy with Professional Buddhist in his bar…harumph.
How’d he get past the bouncer?!?
No… probably something in Latin.:happy7:
I would see using “Sifu” in a username as similar to printing it on a business card. I know lots of sifus who do that. If it is somehow inappropriate, then I don’t see it.
Depends on who you encounter. I take it on a case by case nature on the web. I can understand Errant’s comment here on bullshido.
A large majority here spout things and never back them up. Then you have the one’s like Omega and lee that back them up with their actions.
No sifu in front of their names.
Quite a few use it as a badge to make you not question their statements.
…thus the reference to the pope. :laughing9
I don’t like the sifu thing either. There’s always the question – whose sifu? Sifu shouldn’t be a floating signifier.
Sifu is a relational title. It’s not like Professor, or Reverend, or Doctor. You don’t go around telling people who aren’t your children to call you Daddy, do you?
OK, some of you do, but you’re perverts and therefore don’t count.
Literally, it is equivalent to “father”, only in a teaching relationship. However, I hear it used as a title. I often hear Chinese (non-students) address my sifu as “Sifu”.
Edit: Sorry, I guess we just created the “What does ‘Sifu’ mean?” thread.
My instructor refers to me as Sifu to our other students. We are not in China, so we don’t get too tied up in knots about the proper protocol. You know, that would be proper in China. Wow, you guys really have a lot of time on your hands, eh?
You know the contradiction in the same sentence is hilarious.
Defense mechanism +1.
Gosh if only they drug tested the members of this board, the posts might actually make sense :laughing6 .
It’s not a matter of protocol, it’s a matter of not sounding stupid and ignorant, like every other gwailoh parading around using Chinese terms when they have no clue what they mean…
Defense mechanism +2.
Here I’ll highlight it for you.
We are not in China, so we don’t get too tied up in knots about the proper protocol.
You saying it doesn’t matter because we are not in China.
You know, that would be proper in China
You educating us that, it does because that is the way they do it in China.
Also, your defense is illogical.
You are proclaiming yourself Sifu in your Screen name here on Bullshido. That is you telling us to call you sifu, which is a relational title and not an authoritative title. You are not my sifu.
Your students however, your teacher…all of you are “in the same family” and it is entirely proper for you to be addressed as such there. Note,there is a difference between someone addressing you as something and you calling yourself that publicly.
Also, telling us that your instructor uses the term with your students is rediculuous. It is a logical fallacy called “appeal to authority”.
In conclusion,
YOU’RE NOT MY FATHER!!!
I would be highly interested in a video of sifunat going to China and introducing himself or herself to random taji practitioners in any park in Beijing as “Sifu Nat”.
The proper protocol response would be amusing to observe, and indeed would involve tying sifunat up in some (very friendly) knots.