bizarre phobias list...!

[MissJacksonCA]

wow instead of telling people not to touch me i can tell them what my phobia is! noice... I still laugh that there's people who are scared of peanut butter getting stuck to the inside of their mouth... and that there is an actual term for that fear...

[Mike70]

Good that you were not offended and that you understood what I meant! As for trying to "fit in", that's a bit different and way more understandeable than someone who simply wants to be cool and thus dresses up as a samurai. Nobody ever dresses up as a samurai in order to fit in, you know... That'd be wierd. It's just pissy that it's considered "cool" to be something you're not. White people will never be black, yet they think it's cool to pretend as if they are? I do not get it... i agree totally. i love japanese culture and have always found it fascinating but i am annoyed as all hell by people in the west who think they are samurai or (even worse) ninja. further, it is irritating when said people try to ascribe "mystical" qualities to samurai. they were a warrior class. period. much like the warrior class of europe in the middle ages/early renaissance whom we call knights. they were just people who devoted their lives to training for and preparing for war under a code of conduct. in the words of poe "simply that and nothing more..."

[mista_mo]

i agree totally. i love japanese culture and have always found it fascinating but i am annoyed as all hell by people in the west who think they are samurai or (even worse) ninja. further, it is irritating when said people try to ascribe "mystical" qualities to samurai. they were a warrior class. period. much like the warrior class of europe in the middle ages/early renaissance whom we call knights. they were just people who devoted their lives to training for and preparing for war under a code of conduct. in the words of poe "simply that and nothing more..." But mike!!!1!! Teh Katana Can Cut thru Steal!!1!

[Yojimbo]

i agree totally. i love japanese culture and have always found it fascinating but i am annoyed as all hell by people in the west who think they are samurai or (even worse) ninja. further, it is irritating when said people try to ascribe "mystical" qualities to samurai. they were a warrior class. period. much like the warrior class of europe in the middle ages/early renaissance whom we call knights. they were just people who devoted their lives to training for and preparing for war under a code of conduct. in the words of poe "simply that and nothing more..." scipio, I too do not understand the "mystical" qualities given to samurai, any more than the word "exotic" being used to describe asian women. But as an asian, I guess I would not find Asian girls exotic. Think that asian men, though find euro-girls exotic, so I guess that it depends on which side of the fence you sit on. The side that is not yours will always be "exotic" Regarding the European equivalents of the Samurai, I think that the Samurai would have had quite a bit of respect for the Knights, since realitstically they are both pretty much struck from the same mold, with much of the same values. I have personally seen broken katanas, by the way,, and can swear that you can break one of these if you use them improperly. Some broken blades, in fact were broken in battle while being used to decapitate and skewer folks. They are by no means a magical, mystical blade, though well made they might be. A Kendo sensei once told me that only a properly trained swordsman could use the blade without breaking it, so that implies to me that these are quite easily broken. But mike!!!1!! Teh Katana Can Cut thru Steal!!1! All our base are belong to Mista Mo!

[EvilNed]

scipio, I too do not understand the "mystical" qualities given to samurai, any more than the word "exotic" being used to describe asian women. But as an asian, I guess I would not find Asian girls exotic. Think that asian men, though find euro-girls exotic, so I guess that it depends on which side of the fence you sit on. The side that is not yours will always be "exotic" I believe it was Ahmed Ibn-Fadlan who wrote something about this, how he was complexed by how Iranians always found the arabic lovers to be the best, and how arabs always found the nubian lovers to be the best. He made some conclusion, which is quite logical, as it is more of a "conquest", since these people are rarer than your own domestic women. I can't remember the exact conclusion, and I doubt he was an expert either, but it's kinda silly, yeah. From any side. Regarding the European equivalents of the Samurai, I think that the Samurai would have had quite a bit of respect for the Knights, since realitstically they are both pretty much struck from the same mold, with much of the same values. I believe that during the zenith of knighthood, the knights themselves would be much to racist to have any respect for anyone. They didn't like tartars or mongols, and they'd probably view the samurai as such. But this is the 12-13th century. When the first samurai arrived in spain, on a diplomatic mission, during the 16th century, people there were very intrigued by them. I have personally seen broken katanas, by the way,, and can swear that you can break one of these if you use them improperly. Some broken blades, in fact were broken in battle while being used to decapitate and skewer folks. They are by no means a magical, mystical blade, though well made they might be. A Kendo sensei once told me that only a properly trained swordsman could use the blade without breaking it, so that implies to me that these are quite easily broken. ****, swords used to break all the time. You would never ever see a trained swordsman actually aim at someone's armor, like you do in film. Because it's the sword, not the armor, that's going to get broken. That's what maces were for! European swords were usually used for thrusting or slashing from horseback. Also, this is why knights always kept daggers and dirks on them. If they were going up against another knight, a sword wouldn't be much good. They were too heavily protected! You'd need that dirk to get in close and thrust into the weak parts. Even in Japan, the spear was the most popular battlefield weapon. Spear and later arquebus. Japanese steel was much too rare for anyone wanting to risk it when another cheaper weapon would do just as fine! Spears were easier and cheaper to replace. Of course, before Odo Nobunaga reformed the armies, battles mostly consisted of people running towards each other in no real cohesion at all, more like a brawl. I can see the use of a sword in that kind of situation.