Correlation between preferred knife style and tendency to use combative language?

Ok, ok, I guess it's time for a serious reply.

Uncle Bill, while there may be a grain of truth in your assertion, I have doubts about its validity.

I know a lot of agressive people that don't own any knives. Do you think those people, if given a choice, would pick black knives over bone handled? My guess is that age or some other factor would play a bigger role in terms of their selection of knives.

I think fantasy probably plays a bigger role in collecting tactical knives (or knives, period) than being naturally aggressive. People can fantasize about being attacked (maybe they live in an area where this is common) and so they gravitate to knives as a source of protection, or perhaps they fantasize being some kind of James Bond or Seal or whatever. This is not necessarily an agressive posture but could be interpreted as a sort of John Wayne Romanticism or Heroic Romanticism.

Aggressive behavior, in my view, is probably independent of knive preference. Much of the agressive behavior I see on the Net and where I work is more of a territorial thing.

As a long time archer who was involved in the archery usenet groups for a long time, the biggest flame wars I ever saw were between the traditionalist archers and the compound archers. And in my opinion, the most aggressive posters were the trads. They saw the compounders as invading their territory.

And (please don't take this personally
smile.gif
) your post could be interpreted as being somewhat aggressive. A "traditionalist" knife person feeling outnumbered by guys with black knives. I'm probably with you as being a more traditionalist knife person but I have to admit, I like a lot of the tactical knives out there and have purchased a few here and there. I doubt that this was due to my "dark side." I just happen to enjoy interesting tools and elegant technologies. And of course, I'd cut you if you messed with me but wouldn't you?
smile.gif




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Hoodoo

Doubt grows with knowledge.
--Goethe
 
If you want real flame check out discussions about trumpet mouthpieces. Then for all-out nuclear war hunt up a discussion about traditional vs. modern Siamese cats. We knife people are actually quite tame; a Mad Dog on Jihad is a little puppy compared to a trumpet player with a new Monette, or a Cat breeder with a real Siamese.

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Bill

Unfortunate but Increasingly Necessary Disclaimer:

While this post likely contains incorrect information, fuzzy logic, poor grammar and misspelled words, what it does not contain is intentional malevolence toward anyone.


 
I think it is generally true that people who like weapons and especially people who carry them are much less aggressive than people who don't. People who carry guns, especially -- you don't want to get into stupid arguments when you're carrying a gun, and I don't see any reason that wouldn't apply to people who carry a knife as a weapon. I don't suppose people who carry a knife purely for utility purposes are any different in aggression than those idiots who think they can go through life without ever needing anything sharp, though, unless there is a correlation between lack of foresight and aggression ... hmm, that's worth looking into! Do people who don't have enough foresight to realize they're likely to need a knife from time to time also lack enough foresight to understand that verbal aggression can get them in trouble?

It would an interesting experiment to pick a day when it looks like rain and stop people on the street, observe whether they're carrying umbrellas or not, and ask them whether they have a knife. I predict there will be a correlation between umbrellas and knives -- but how strong a correlation?

Is a santiolo just a bigger navaja, or is the design different at all?

The theology of my order, the Wholly Brotherhood and Cisternity of Voracious Truth, prohibits folding knives. However, I've been thinking ... Wholly Writ says nothing about folding swords ... this probably belongs in another thread....

-Wholly Brother Cougar, Speaker to the Cistern :{)
 
The santiolo is a bigger navaja in the sense the Mini-14 is a smaller M-14. They bear a resemblance to eachother, but they are necessarily crafted different internaly, handle differently in a fight, and are generaly configured slightly differently.

The prefered blade length on a santiolo is the length from the tip of your finger to the middle of the inside of you elbow, maybe a tad bit smaller. That allows for a long blade, but still gives the handle plenty of clearance from the elbow or side so it doesn't get caught against the weilder while loading strikes or recovering gaurds and such.

Some get bigger, then you're looking at either wider gaurds, more reliance on linear thrusts, or playing the handle forward like the handle of an axe when fighting.

As far as folding knives in a fight go, they've worked well for my people for a couple centuries, and we find ourselves in all sorts of trouble. Yeah, there are many times when a fixed blade would be better hypotheticaly, but circumstances being what they are there are other considerations to take into account.

Anyway, even if you were to go with a fixed weilded in the manner of a navaja, you'd be better off with the folding version `cause it would be awfuly hard to hide 16-20 inches of rigid steel on your body, though it would be a fearsome weapon. That long handle actualy plays an actively role in navaja combat on both offense and defense. Not just there for looks. Yet another aspect that Loriega missed/left out of his book.

I say again that it pains me greatly that his anemic treatise is currently the only mainstream publication on the subject. If he really has spent ten years learning this stuff, and tried to accurately represent what he's learned in that decade, he's got bloody little to show for ten years of training. I wouldn't even go so far as to say his work teaches the basics. It's more like a few techniques taken out of context and haphazardly thrown together. Think "photo collage" not "martial art".

In other news, I went from tirador to pistolero today, broke down and bought me a blaster(Colt Detective Special. don't know much bout handguns, but was cheap and felt real nice in the hand).

The funny thing is that knives are a regular sorta object to me. They're something I've always been around and for all intents and purposes they may as well just be an organic part of my being. Since I have many organic parts and none of them keep me from being an *******, the knife doesnt either. However, as I was driving away(got use of a car now) from the gun store, it sorta hit me like a ton of bricks.

While on one hand I consider firearms severely limited cause they're only lethal for ever so few moments till they're depleted of ammo, there was a feeling of awesome responsibilty that just overwhelmed me. Which is funny, it was exactly opposite of any sort of macho gung-ho sorta feeling of being a badass with lethal weaponry. It was more like "whoah, I'd better be careful with this thing, and mind my manners".

I don't know if it was as much because of the weapon itself, or it's legal or cultural implications, but it definately heightened my feelings of responsibility.

I don't know if any of that was coherent, it was just a very weird experience. A good one I supose, but pretty heavy...
 
God save the Queen. I'm definitely more combative since I carry primarily black, G10-handled folders. I'm thinking about taking it up a notch and replacing the black G10 with some type of noxious chemical that'll burn my hands.

[This message has been edited by Professor (edited 21 November 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Professor (edited 21 November 1999).]
 
Wow what an interjection!

Uncle Bill, here is an incredible opportunity to test your hypothesis. I can't think of a post I've seen on BladeForums with more combative language than Herr Professor's.

I realize that this is only a sample size of one, but why don't you ask the Professor how many black-handled knives he owns.


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Hoodoo

Doubt grows with knowledge.
--Goethe
 
I'm drooling over my Microtech SOCOM. It is my new daily carry blade. M/A, Combo edge, black Tanto. I guess its "tactical" in the extreme. I dont worry too much because I wore black before PIB were cool, and I will like the same things when they are no longer in style. I like what I like PERIOD. What Clint Eastwood or Steven Livingston Seagull likes couldn't interest me less.

I'm not much inclined to talk to anyone about anything, much less about how I'm going to kill them. If someone's mouthing off to me, I figure its best to break their jaw while their mouth is open, rather than wait till they're done to retort.

If I had to pick music to accompany my SOCOM and my GLOCK 19 (they are a couple), it would probably be Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" especially "Fortuna imperatix Mundi." It just tweaks some ancestral Teutonic urges in me. I want to sack the Britons or something.

When I play with my Bowies I sometimes listen to Johnny Cash (PIB) "Unchained." I like "tactical" Bowies, so I guess I'm in some kind of grey area.

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"The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes.
So do thinkers who cannot change their opinions;
they cease to think."
-NIETZSCHE
 
It'd be interesting to compare choice of knives with quality of grammar, but the situation is complicated -- I suspect people who use similar grammar for different reasons probably choose different knives (or the same knives for different reasons? We'll have to do some research to find out.)

Some of us are struggling with a foreign language; some of us are uneducated; some of us suffer from the delusion that bad grammar adds humor to our posts; some of us are idiots, and some of us just don't care.

With all those reasons to use bad grammar it's surprising there's anybody who doesn't do it.

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
Is there a correlation between the knife we prefer and personality? Duh! Of course, so is the way we dress, the car we drive, our homes, the movies we like. It's all a reflection of who we are or who we want to be. Do most normal people act out on these roles we play? No. I personally would feel less threatened by someone carrying a real nice tactical, then some punk with a box cutter, or some pissed of spouse with a kitchen knife. I can appreciate a nice tactical, but I prefer the traditional stuff. It's not just because I'm getting older, I still want the knives I wanted as a kid. I allways wanted Jim Bowies knife, not Sgt. Rocks bayonet or K-Bar. That's just me.
 
Sorry, I needed to retract this message.

[This message has been edited by James Sass (edited 22 November 1999).]
 
Yes, Professor should cool it. Yes, i also like Da Socom, Carnivour, Gunsite , grande Vaquero, 710 Axis, Kukri(not black), and Nimravus. My big complaint is that the Kestrel is too small. I dont use combative language. The man arrested by the coppers after using a Butchers Knife is the combative one!
 
Hey Ivan,
"The man arrested by the coppers after using a Butchers Knife is the combative one!"

I love this one! ROFL
smile.gif


But to make it politically correct it should be the "person" arrested. I was just thinking about what's-her-name who cut off her hubby's hobby. Did she use kitchen cutlery?


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Hoodoo

Doubt grows with knowledge.
--Goethe
 
Massad Ayoob had an article in the "AMERICAN HANDGUNNER" magazine a while back called "An Armed Society, is a polite society." I wish I still had it and could copy it to this post, but I don't. Maybe someone else could.
 
The ex Mrs. Bobbit, that's the gal!

------------------
Hoodoo

Doubt grows with knowledge.
--Goethe
 
And how did I miss clicking on this thread until now?!
biggrin.gif


So much Internet, so little time!

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife. Like pruning a shrub with a Matriarch yesterday, or slicing bread with a SIFU a few weeks ago.

Today's load, which some might think is excessive: William Henry CF Lancet, SpyderCard, Spyderco Dragonfly, Leatherman Wave, Victorinox Explorer, Benchmade 705BT, SpydeRench, Benchmade 800SBT, and Spyderco Matriarch. (Trousers held up with suspenders)

Experience with mortal combat - none.

Tastes in Forum postings - Mild, peaceful, except when I start ranting about Slick Willy and the Butchers of Beijing.

Tastes in music - Classical, traditional, country music from strange countries. Varttina (strong women from Finland) when I'm thinking puukkos. Mozart goes well with multitools - logical, mathematical music. One-hand G10 folders go well with Huun Huur Tu (very weird vocal sounds from Tuva, just north of Outer Mongolia). Cutting ege CD of the week - Dusha - The Soul of Bulgaria with the Bulgarian All Star Orchestra - a strong woman with a bagpipe among other pleasures.

And here's a troll for your amusement:

norwaytroll.jpg



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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
Uncle Bill - You can tell the excitable folks in the cat enthusiasts forum that (approximately) 3/4 Siamese cats make the best BladeForums kitties!

www.chaicutlery.com/images/monitork...tp://www.chaicutlery.com"]www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
Hey J.M.
Is that Troll packing 2 knives? Looks like one in his right hand, and one that's way too small on his left hip. Damn 15" monitor!
 
Vampire Gerbil seems kinda tame by comparison. Of course, VG is real...

------------------
Hoodoo

Doubt grows with knowledge.
--Goethe
 
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