# What do you call yourself.



## dosk3n (Apr 8, 2010)

Just having one of my random thoughts and came up with this.

What do you call yourself?

What I mean is when you are explaining to someone do you say you are a chunner, Wing Chun Practitionor, Wing Chun Student...

I personally seem so say Practitioner.

What about you?


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## kaizasosei (Apr 8, 2010)

Good question.  
I call myself a practitioner and lover of martial arts and the philosophy thereof.  Many people with some superficial knowledge immediately ask what martial art category...
but i don't answer clearly- wouldn't be easy anyhow.
I say i like all martial arts- whatever- i have practiced in more than 5 schools in the last while.  Interested in all martial arts but have most experience with japanese oldstyle martial arts and some chinese ma-  but i like all martial arts. Whatever.  This confuses some but it is the best answer for me.  It's not about talk- it's about action.


j


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## geezer (Apr 8, 2010)

I just say that I enjoy practicing martial arts. If I were writing something more formal, like some sort of resume, I suppose I might use the term _practitioner_. On this forum I like to describe myself as a _"chunner"_ so I can steer clear of all the politics that go along with the different ways we translate "wing chun" into our alphabet. It must be easier for the Chinese. They use the same characters regardless of dialect or lineage (except for the "weng chun" system which is actually a related but different art, and so uses a slightly different ideogram).


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## Domino (Apr 8, 2010)

Im 'studying' wing chun and go to 'class' ...so student in my eyes.
'Sifu' means teacher.


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## dosk3n (Apr 8, 2010)

This is why I started the thread as I also agree I am a student. But today most people relate student to college and university, pen and paper. This is why I use practitioner as I practice my art.


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## mook jong man (Apr 8, 2010)

I just tell them I do Kung Fu , it doesn't matter anyway because later on when you see them they always say " How's your Karate going ".


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## bully (Apr 9, 2010)

mook jong man said:


> I just tell them I do Kung Fu , it doesn't matter anyway because later on when you see them they always say " How's your Karate going ".



Exactly!!

I usually say I do chop suey. Most people get what I mean when I say that. If it is someone who I know does MA then I will say I do Wing Chun.
Now I know that Chop suey usually means bad MA but it seems to get the message across to non MA people. It also shows that I dont take myself particularly seriously. Whilst I am passionate about WC, there is nothing more boring than blathering on about it at a BBQ or round someone's for dinner when it is full of non MA people.

I was out for a beer the other week with a mate, it wasn't planned and I had a hoodie on which has a very small emblem of ........ Wing Chun.
I would never ever wear this in a pub etc, just had it on and we went for a beer.
Couple of guys came in who we vaguely knew, one of them noticed my hoodie and asked me if I did Kung Fu and then he went into the crane stance from the Karate kid and started doing wax on wax off etc.
Was attention that I didnt really want, so I will make sure that that hoodie stays in the drawer from now on. A bit OT but it seemed to fit that the guy started doing Karate moves when he asked me if I did Kung Fu!!


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## wushuguy (Apr 9, 2010)

for lack of ingenuity, on the forums i call myself: wushuguy.
on the streets, i don't call myself because that would make me look crazy.
in class and most situations i do answer to "hey"


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## KamonGuy2 (Apr 9, 2010)

dosk3n said:


> what do you call yourself?


god...


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## geezer (Apr 9, 2010)

Kamon Guy said:


> god...


 
I guess when you pray, you find you are talking to yourself?

...apologies to Woody Allen.


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## naneek (Apr 9, 2010)

i also like the term practicioner


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## dungeonworks (Apr 9, 2010)

I respond with Kickboxing and Grappling.  If they have any martial arts background, I will get detailed with my background (TKD, Koei-Kan, MMA Grappling, Kickboxing, Wing Chun, JKD...) from here.  Every time I say "Jeet Kune Do", I either get the "Bruce Lee's karate?" or "What's that?"....and I am also afraid the other person may be JKD too and likes some Chunner's, JKD guys argue about what JKD is too! :barf:

...or if I am short on words, I will just say "kind'a like MMA." or just "Karate.".   Sometimes it is not worth the conversation with a non-martial artist as they are gonna look at you like you are speaking Greek or start the Crane Stance Karate Kid routine as mentioned above.  I "nut slapped" a guy for doing that once....it was funny.  Mr. Myagi forgot to tell Daniel that a slap to the balls will pull them out of the "Crane technique done correctly, noooo can defend!"!!


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## Acid Trip (Apr 12, 2010)

geezer said:


> I guess when you pray, you find you are talking to yourself?
> 
> ...apologies to Woody Allen.



Do you hear other people talking when you pray?.. Odd i only ever heard myself.. Now im my own kinda Buddhist tho..



And i just say i practice/study the martial arts/Wing Chun/Kung Fu..


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## Teufel Hunden (Apr 12, 2010)

Depends on who is asking, but I usually give short answers, unless the person is genuinely curious or interested in training themselves.  Mostly I just say I'm a Martial Artist and keep it pretty general, but practitioner is also good on occasion.

It's pretty rare that I give a more detailed description than that, as, at least around here, most people haven't the foggiest idea what Tang Soo Do is.   More people have heard of BJJ, but even still, only the name sounds familiar, and the follow up question is usually something like, "isn't that like wrestling?"   If I find someone who has a genuine interest, I don't mind explaining the ins and outs, but most people aren't too interested in actually learning, so I don't  bother trying.


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## mograph (Apr 12, 2010)

It all depends on who's asking, right? The progression of familiarity starts inside your own art (or style), then with CMA people, then MA people, then sports people, then the general public. The farther "inside" we are, the more specific we can be. With the general public, I'm finding it's not worth mentioning at all ... "hiding my hoodie", so to speak.

I prefer "I do" rather than "I am". If asked, I'd say "I do this weird Chinese exercise, where we stand in one place for forty-five minutes. Feels good." That sorts out the genuinely interested parties pretty quickly. 

But in general, I don't bring it up.


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## Poor Uke (Apr 13, 2010)

I say player. Coz for me it is palying. Its only real when actually fighting.


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## qwksilver61 (Apr 13, 2010)

a student in the art of survival,pugilism,humanism,psychology and infantism (joke of course).....always viewing the world with curiosity and a sense of wonder....like how in the world did all those people survive that mess back then?


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## Xinglu (Apr 16, 2010)

I just tell people I box.  If the person is seriously interested or another MAist, I will go into more detail, but for the most part "boxing" is a good general statememnt that is honest without drawing unwanted attention.  Most people just go, "Oh, cool" and leave it at that.  Which suits me fine 

But then again, most people who know me, don't actually know I train in any MA.  I believe in discretion with such things.


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## matsu (Apr 16, 2010)

a beginner!its been two years and have just passed my second grading(unconvincinly i have to say) but i am still a novice!if people ask i just say i do martial arts and go the the gym ands train!but i dont advertise the fact i do and i only give more info if the person seems slightly knowledgeable and genuinely interested!matsu


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