Huntley

Taekwondon’ts By Master Wang
Masters Whang, as told to Bora Chang

10 - Improperly Washed Doboks:
There’s nothing worse than huffing and puffing in class near someone who smells like a damp, old sneaker. Since every class should make you sweat with exertion, you should wash your dobok after every class, or rotate through a clean one every time you work out. Respect your uniform, and those around you.

9 - The “Running Bow” In and Out of Workout Areas: (Closely related to this is “From the Neck-down Bow.”)
Bowing properly is an acknowledgment of respect for Taekwondo, as well as to the instructors and fellow students. A proper bow is performed from the waist up, not from the neck, and it is unrushed. Besides, what’s the hurry? The mat’s not going anywhere, ten push-ups if you’re late is the worst that can happen, and if you’re in that much of a rush you’re probably late and doing pushups anyways!

8 – “Kiyaps” Spoken As Such:
Imagine if every time you punched or kicked, you screamed, “Yell!” During drills, you would proceed up and down the mat, screaming, “Yell! Yell! Yell!” This is what we hear when you literally say, “Kiyap,” which, in Korean, means “Yell.” We suggest you actually yell, rather than say “Yell!”

7 - “Taekwondo” Pronounced “Tie Kwan Doe”:
You might as well call it “Twye Condo” if you’re going to butcher it like that. That’s what my sons Derek and Dylan call it when they’re trying to be funny. “Tae” is pronounced as in “Ted”. “Kwon” is pronounced as it is written. “Do” is pronounced with a short “o” sound. If you still don’t understand, please ask us. (Related note: See Taekwondon’t #5.)

6 - Improper Punching:
Making you do knuckle push-ups isn’t solely to inflict torture (well, it’s the main reason, but not the only one); it’s so that you learn how to punch correctly. Avoid at all costs punching with bent wrists, or punching with the last two knuckles. This is dangerous to your wrists, as you can sprain or even break a wrist when punching a hard target. Always punch with a straight wrist, with the index and middle finger knuckles reaching their target first.

5 - The Number Six, Mispronounced: Six, in Korean, is “Yeosut.”
When pronounced “Yasut,” it just grates on our ears. It might sound cute coming out of a 5 year-old – the first time - but it gets old quickly. Please ask us if you’re having trouble pronouncing it.

4 - We Are Not Masters Yang, As We Were Once Called:
It is common courtesy to know the names of your instructors! If you’re confused because we happen to look alike, please ask who is who, and we’ll give you some clues to help you tell us apart!

3 - The Joonbi That Takes Forever and a Day:
The ready stance starts with your fists directly under the chin, then ends in front of your belt in one swift motion in a quick one-two count. There is no such thing as a “3-point joonbi”, the one that makes you look like you’re pumping your bicycle pump.

2 - Yawning in Class: Especially in our classes.
This is a sign that you’re not exerting yourself enough, or that you’re bored. If the latter, we can solve this by many, many more push-ups!

1 - Calling Taekwondo ‘Karate” and a Dojang a “Dojo”:
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, many Taekwondo practitioners (even Korean masters) referred to their martial art as “Korean Karate.” That’s because there wasn’t enough awareness of Taekwondo per se, so in order to simplify it for non-Koreans, people referred to the one martial art everyone knew. Today, Taekwondo is the world’s most widely practiced martial art, and although we have utmost respect for Karate and other types of martial arts, no self-respecting Taekwondo practitioner, and especially those of Korean descent, should refer to it as “Karate”, or as their training hall as a “dojo”. That would lead to a LOT of pushups – more pushups than you could ever count in Korean OR English!

__________________
Master Adam D. Huntley
Snohomish Taekwondo
www.SnoTKD.com
Hwa-Rang Taekwondo
www.HTFtaekwondo.com
Member BHMA - Brotherhood of Martial Artists
www.brotherhoodofmartialartists.com

Mike Brewer

Some of these crack me up!

Some seem like meaningless pet peeves, like the pronounciation of "six," but the stinky uniform point is great!

eXcessiveForce

yeah, I'm of the same mind,

Taekwondo Don'ts

Don't block with your face,
Don't forget people can push you when you kick
Don't forget that low blocks leave your head completely ungaurded so don't do
them.

Don't punch from the waist
Don't forget rank doesn't mean a damn thing when your getting your ass kicked.

__________________
eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

PandaMan

I agree with most of this thread.
However, as a person of Korean descent... It bugs me a bit when even TKD Masters or Instructors do not know how to pronounce Korean words.

It's not actually "TIE"... the sound is more of "Teh"
Not "Yeosut" but more "Yuh-sut".

eXcessiveForce

It always kind of bugged me that teaching TKD in America that we would spend time learning Korean Terminology rather than just use simple English.

I don't need to know how to count in Korean to punch or kick you. same with all the other terms that really aren't important.

__________________
eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

PandaMan

True. You don't need to learn the language to effectively use the techniques.

However, as martial artists I believe one should be respectful of the style and where it came from. Especially, if you're an instructor or a master. Also, English is only simple in America.

Granted my Thai and Chinese speaking abilities aren't as good as a natural born, but I try and put as much effort into as I can.