carp swimming in the pond

[Bill Glasheen]

Lori

Yes, that's the poster I looked at.

And your reaction to the use of "cyprinoid" was the same as mine. I would use that word to describe the family Cyprinidae or the genus cyprinus while chatting with biology students. But I would no more use cyprinoid in normal conversation than I would say Pardon me, folks, I need to micturate (unless I wanted to be pretentious, or get around our cyber editor).

So....when I saw that translation, and I saw it was an official document of the (former) Uechi Ryu Karate Do Association, I had to chuckle. Gee, what personality could have come up with a translation like that?

I have stories....but I'll be good.

Still, I like the "loose" translation of tail beating. It implies neither strike nor block, even though uchi is most definitely translated as strike. Here is a case where the English is better than the Japanese.

-- Bill