From the newsgroup
rec.martial-arts
moderated
1) A question guaranteed
to start a flame war or a style war, no matter how innocently asked.
For example, "Is any good in a street fight?" Anybody who practices
will say yes. Anybody who doesn't will say no (that's why they practice
instead).
2) A question so
vague that it generates no useful answers, or a flame war, or a style
war. For example, "Which martial art is best?" averages about three
posts before devolving into a flurry of "Mine!" "No! Yours sucks! Mine's
the best!". Everybody else is wondering "Best for *what*?" and doesn't
bother to answer your question.
3) An old chestnut
that people are tired of refuting or correcting. This is the martial
arts equivalent of an urban myth. These topics elicit the same response
that you have when you see "Craig Shergold Needs Your Cards" in your
e-mail inbox. For example, "Belts have all those colours because you
start out with a white belt, and the more you work out, the dirtier
it gets, until it eventually turns black, when you're really, really
good."
4) A statement about
which there are strong contradicting opinions, and nobody is EVER going
to change anybody's mind. These are the religious wars of martial arts
newsgroups. For example, "Chi(Qi,ki) does/doesn't exist", or "Kata is/isn't
useless".
5) A statement guaranteed
to annoy, and impossible to prove. For example, "Bruce Lee would have
kicked Stephen Seagal's a**!", or "(style/person) (it/he/she) must be
the best in the world because has never been defeated!" (I would like
to point out here that I am undefeated in all of Asia. Of course, I
have never fought in *any* of Asia. Which pretty much guarantees I'm
undefeated there.)
Specifically,