Steve James wrote:Imo, the problem is not the words; the problem is the ideas the speaker/writer meant to convey. Someone can use the same with totally different meanings. I don't know what "peng" means, no matter how it's pronounced. I know what I mean, and what others can explain. If there were one meaning, everyone would agree. The only consensus is the word, even among native Chinese speakers who pronounce the word slightly differently.
Well in some cases, sure, a rose by any other name, but in others, the names, either proscriptively or post facto often communicate something about the context and meaning of the movement.
Grasp sparrows tail, Yang Cheng Fu explains, refers to taking hold of the opponent's arm. The sparrow's tail, so I've been led to believe, is a common metaphor for this among some martial arts. I'm sure others here might know more about that.
Alex Dong translates it as "Embrace Peacock's Tail".
I don't know the significance of Lazily tying one's coat but I would love to learn more about it.
Another example is "Embrace the tiger to return it to the mountain" which I understand as meeting a ferocious attack gently to throw the attacker on their head. Retreat to ride tiger, yielding to the rushing attack to join. Needle to sea bottom to describe a particular qi na.
I believe the names are significant. For martial application visualization, assuming the proper spirit, and as a medium of cultural transmission and reflection. Present the tablet in the Jian form, for example. Carp leaping the dragon gate.
Yeah, direct oral transmission is very reliable, but no less susceptible to interpretation. Once we're talking about ideas, it can only be certain that the words have stayed the same. Afa as tcc, I think that's why scholars used "songs" to describe jins and things. That doesn't solve the problem because people made up their own songs, poems, or phrases as descriptions.
And then you've got the problem of editorialized translations being a student's first or only exposure to a classic.
At the heart of it, the exercise is what matters, the practice is what matters, but looking up it's higher and higher, looking down it's deeper and deeper. The study of the words and the variations on themes between lineages and flavors is itself fascinating and rewarding in my opinion in considering and developing my own practice.