A rant, because I'm a pedantic nerd.

[Chovexani]

Katanas. They are katanas. When most people say "samurai sword", they mean this:



That is a katana. "Samurai swords" can technically mean any number of weapons, because katanas were not the only swords samurai used. In fact, a katana was always paired with a wakizashi, a sword with a shorter blade; the two were known together as daisho and were a crucial status symbol of the samurai caste. Other swords used by samurai include the tanto and the nodachi (the latter was far more rare, despite what anime and video games depict, and was used mostly against mounted warriors as it was ginormous enough to take out a guy on a horse). That's just scratching the surface of the types of swords used by samurai. So "samurai sword" is lame. It's a vague and silly term.

Sorry, but this drives me NUTS, and I warned you I'm a pedantic nerd. :P It's right up there with "Japanimation" in the "dumbass Westerner terms for Japanese shit that need to die in a fire" category.

[Solon]

1. You are a pedantic nerd...

and I agree wholeheartedly. So I guess that makes two of us.

Oh, by the way, I had a buddy, years ago, who used to collect hentai of all things, and he called it "Japornimation".

[Chovexani]

2. omgwtf.

Oh gawd. People who say stuff like that remind me of the guidos who run those kiosks at the mall (and they're ALWAYS guidos! no matter where the mall is!). You know, the ones with bootleg HK movies and badly silkscreened button up shirts with loud patterns and fake "Japanimation" characters on them (and that's really the only way to describe them). :P

[Sugar Smack]

36. FAKE "Japanimation" characters?

:rofl: I. Fucking. Love. You.:loveya:

[_testify_]

38. Guido is an offensive term, at least to me.

Just thought you should know.

[Chovexani]

39. Ok.

How about "Joisey-accented Camaro enthusiast"? :D

[_testify_]

41. That works.

I'm not one of *those*.

:P

[Solon]

48. Heh, that reminds me of my BIL, who has a few silkscreened buttoned up shirts...

with DBZ on them.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. You're OUR kind of pedantic nerd.

What would John Belushi do?

[Chovexani]

4. LOL. Probably make a sandwich.

[DarkTirade]

5. Personally I'm a fan of the nodachi.

... but I swear, I'm not compensating for anything. :P

[Chovexani]

7. LOL. Well I'm kinda fond of the nodachi myself.

But that's because of this guy.



Ah, my psychotic, genocidal dreamboat. :loveya:

[DarkTirade]

10. Mmm... Sepheroth...

He's got the length, but Cloud has the girth.

[Chovexani]

12. Well, there goes my monitor

Hot tea all over it, thanks. :rofl:

That reminds me, I've got a fanfic I need to finish writing. :evilgrin:

[DarkTirade]

14. Sounds like the tea won't be the only hot thing going across your monitor... :P

[Chovexani]

26. Erm.

I hope you're not suggesting that I write gay porn about video game characters. That would be wrong.

:hide::yoiks:

[DarkTirade]

67. I would never suggest something like that.

I might imply and then giggle hysterically though. :P

[jonnyblitz]

6. damn, i thought it was another slang term for boobs.

:P :hi:

[Chovexani]

13. LOL, you're awful jonny

Psst...that's California rolls. :rofl:

[jonnyblitz]

15. that was a tacky post, not my usual style.

sorry about that. :hug:

[DarkTirade]

16. Relax, you're in the lounge. Tacky is par for the course here. :)

[jonnyblitz]

20. I know but i usually don't make comments about girl body parts.

like some sexist asshole. :D

[DarkTirade]

31. .... like? :P

I keed, I keed.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

33. hey you!

:loveya:

[Chovexani]

17. You are all class, sir.

And sexy to boot. :hug:

[jonnyblitz]

21. you are good for the ego. i should post in your threads more often

It's obvious you haven't seen me in a few years though. just call me jonny love hewitt. :rofl:

I won't be wearin no stinkin speedo in public anytime soon. :P

[Chovexani]

23. Hehe!

Aww. All you need is some of this:



BEEFCAKE!

[Tektonik]

8. That Japanimation stuff is cool

I like Dragonball Z. I didn't know Japanese people could fly and turn their hair a glowing gold :P

:sarcasm:

[Chovexani]

9. The side effect of that

Is that you have to fight for the next 10 episodes. :P

[Tektonik]

11. Hey!

I enjoy the grunting, flexing, KAMEEEEHAAAAAAAMEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAA.... 10 (episodes later)... MEEEHAAAMEEHAAMEEHAAMEEHAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA's :D

[Gonzo Gardener]

18. Great samuraization, Chovexani.

:rofl:

[Chovexani]

19. Oh GAWD

That was terrible! You ought to be pun-ished! :spank:

:rofl:

[Kutjara]

22. Don't even get me started.

As someone who's a bit of a Japanese history and culture nerd, I'm constantly outraged by the way so many things are misrepresented and mis-presented in Western popular culture. Of course, the Japanese get their own back by mercilessly messing up their representations of our culture, but still...

If you have trouble falling asleep anytime, just engage me in conversation about the "Last Samurai" movie. I can bore at international standard about the inconsistencies in that.

[Chovexani]

24. I think I love you.

One night when I'm not sick with a head cold we need to geek at each other.

[Kutjara]

27. LOL! It's a date.

:hi:

[Tektonik]

25. What's a katana?

:shrug: looks like a Kill Bill sword to me :P

[jpgray]

28. Should I point out to you the plural is actually "katana?"

Or, since I know what you mean, would cutting you a little slack be more appropriate? :P

[Chovexani]

29. Ah tweak my grammar geek, why don't you

:)

They're actually both acceptable terms, because Japanese doesn't have separate singular and plural forms.

[jpgray]

30. True enough! For purposes of Anglicization, katanas is fine

But it's fun to quibble and thereby didactically "instruct" people on trivial bits of knowledge. This is something few can deny, let alone resist. :D :hi:

[Chovexani]

35. Hee. Quibbling is fun.

:hug:

[Richardo]

32. Japanimation. The only thing worse is mispronouncing it...

There was an otherwise intelligent woman at the bookstore I used to work at that pronounced it 'Jap-Animation'. That was jarring. I don't think she heard the racist tone of that.

[DS1]

34. I can't stand anime, and would like to drown it in a pond

but on this topic, I can empathize.

[Sugar Smack]

37. Are we bad for not being able to stand anime?

Am I wrong for getting hives when I reach that *what do you call it* part of the book store?

[Chovexani]

40. I like anime, and I catch hives when I look at the average manga section

But that's because I can't stand 90% of anime fandom. *gets out cane* In MY day, we didn't have shelf upon shelf of English translated stuff...if we wanted to read it, we had to go to the tiny bookstore in the bad part of Little Japan/Chinatown, and we had to learn the damn language!

Those kids need to GET OFF my lawn.

[Sugar Smack]

50. DAMN! *runs away*

:P :rofl: :loveya:

[DS1]

43. I just find all the lights and giant swords ridiculous

and the drawing styles are lazy

[madeline_con]

57. And the eyes are too big, and the little girls are built like

"exotic dancers". I could go on and on.....

[Throd]

53. Can I kick its corpse when you're done?

I have an irrational hatred of anime dating back to "Speed Racer".

[harmonicon]

62. just that word makes me cringe

CARTOONS!! that's what they are. Trying to make them something cool by calling them something else, just makes that person look.... well, like someone who watches cartoons but won't admit to it!

[TrogL]

42. What kind of sword does Hiro wave around in "Heroes"?

[Chovexani]

44. That would be a katana

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

45. It's the same feeling I get when people call a cocktail a "martini" if it isn't a Martini.

I do wish people were more intelligent.

x(

[ElboRuum]

46. I wish people would manage their pet peeves better.

You guys are getting your pet peeves' hair all over my floors.

[kwassa]

60. and sir, just what is your definition of Martini?

In Europe it is a certain brand of vermouth on the rocks.

I beg to differ.

[ElboRuum]

47. You are so right...

Nerd and three-quarters by the looks of things. :evilgrin:

[Lisa]

49. I just think it's enormously funny that katanas, tofu, futons, sushi ....

.... and any number of other things that are now routinely purchased by non-Japanese people, were obscure things that only my extended family knew about, back when I was a little kid.

[Blue-Jay]

58. Rapiers are also bought by people who aren't French.

That always makes me laugh!

[Lisa]

63. But one assumes that they at least know how to use them!

My parents still laugh about the time our local grocer decided to stock tofu (this was back around the time "Shogun" premiered on network TV). The staff didn't realize that the stuff had to be refrigerated, and so they were stuck with a couple of hundred pounds of bad tofu ... Mom tried to tell them, but they wouldn't listen! (We always got ours from the Buddhist temple in the next town over, because they made it fresh.)

I should note that I grew up in a Rust Belt town, where people were (and still are) suspicious of "trendy stuff". I swear that we didn't get a Taco Bell until the mid-1980s. I was the only Japanese-Canadian kid in my class at school, and when we did a multicultural show-and-tell in Grade 5, nobody else had heard of things like futons (I checked). At potlucks in the 1970s-1990s, I learned that if I brought Japanese food, most of it would not be eaten (and that I had better bring chicken wings or something else more mainstream, as well). Unless it was a family supper. My high school friends still won't touch sushi, but their kids love it.

[NewJeffCT]

51. damn

Is it nerdy that I find it hot that you know all that about katanas?

I'd probably melt if you wielded a katana with your halloween outfit.

[Chovexani]

52. LOL.

I would have brought it, except I didn't want to have to peace tie it.

[NewJeffCT]

66. If I had only known

you were into katanas, I could have given your in-game namesake one when she made her debut this past Friday night, as she was wielding a long sword in game.

Though where she got a katana would have been another mystery on top of 'Holy shit, where did the drow come from?" as the gaming world I am using doesn't really have a specific asian/oriental setting.

[stuntcat]

54. I used to know a cat named Kitana

almost Katana.. only not.
And he died last year :cry: (he's only sleeping in his picture though!)
?v=0

[madeline_con]

55. My younger brother used the word "pedantic"

in a job interview once. He said the guy wrote it down to look up later. :spray:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

56. Hey sword guy, I got a question.

I have seen a sword holder thing at peoples' houses. These are people who probably brought them back from Japan in WW II.

It's a carved wood or ivory case, with a handle on each end, sitting in a stand. Maybe two or thee feet long. Or even without a handle on each end.

What are they called? Just ceremonial or decorative things?

I know zip about anime, or Western or Eastern swordplay.

[Chovexani]

64. I'm female.

I'm not really sure what you mean without a picture. Traditional Japanese sword stands are called katanakake (those are the racks that you see which often hold two or three swords of varying sizes).

[pokerfan]

59. Good times with Weapons

Kenny: Shuriken
Cartman: Sai Blades
Kyle: Nunchaku
Stan: Tonfa

[Lethe]

61. are you that dude on the Home Shopping Channel that twirls the swords non-stop?

say man, be careful with those things :D

[Chovexani]

65. No, but if you were watching CNN on Halloween a couple years back

I was the chick dressed like Callisto from Xena with the trannie Gabrielle at the NY Village Halloween Parade. :)

[DarkTirade]

68. ... okay, that comment is just useless without pictures. :P