Wow, all this discussion / debate over a single word! I?m really new to the FMA scene, but have noticed this topic often.
Purely academic interests aside, is it really that important to so many people? I get the feeling some people are almost offended by its spreading use because it might be a term of American origin. Even if its historic use in the Philippines is not proven or even disproven, is it going to vanish from use or cause those using it to be shunned? It seems to me that even if it were 100% a modern, Americanized term, as long as its use was kept in context it should be okay and ?acceptable? to use. As long as one teaching an "old and historically pure" art used a traditional name, rather than Kali, nothing would be lost or corrupted. The term could be seen in this context to have a valid use; it seems that many teachers here in America do have their own flavour of FMA, often integrating techniques from other martial arts in order to have a more varied palette to draw from, whether for fighting, or customizing for a student?s individual ability. I see no reason why Kali could not be a valid term for this, regardless of its etymology. I realize that what I just said of teachers here in America could probably be valid for any of the teachers of FMA over the ages, as most people tend to customize/emphasize to some extent, however I mean to keep the term for a kind of "melting pot" version, still a true escrima/arnis, but with wider-reaching influences, designed/ taught in this country. At least then it would have a bit of its own identity, rather than being another colloquial synonym. Can?t we all just get along?
For the fellow researching this: have you checked any Spanish historical documents? Perhaps the journals or personal letters or military reports of some old kings still exist from the time during or just after the time they had rule of the Philippines. I just traced this post (dexter, march 9) from my email back to the DB?s forum, then back to martialtalk forum, back to a Balintawak thread, how hard can it be to trace a word back 500 years?
Now, where?s Magellan?s diary ?
--Just my 2 cent,
WitchDoctor
Show Posts