To the Portuguese speaking members..question about a shoulder lock!

[rockinronnie]

My instructor is Portuguese (my apologies if I spelt it incorrectly), and when I came back from a BJJ seminar, I asked him if the term "Umoplata" meant "shoulder lock", and he said it meant "a plate". Some of the guys at the seminar told me it was a shoulder lock, and proceeded to show me exactly how it is executed. My question is; if Umoplata is a shoulder lock in BJJ, then why does it have something to do with a plate when translated? I also thought that maybe I wasn't pronouncing it correctly, so maybe it didn't sound right. Clear this up for me. Thank you.

Ronnie.

___________________________
A straight arm's still a broken arm - Master JPF

[Rey Diogo]

The move is "OMOPLATA", but it has nothing to do with plate... Plate in Portuguese is "PRATO", in spanish is "PLATO", so maybe he got confused with omoPLATA. You said he's Portuguese? Or did you mean he's Brazilian?? Kind of weird... a brazilian native wouldn't say OMOPLATA means plate... (???????????)

[rockinronnie]

Thank you Rey - I will check it out with him on Monday. And by the way, he is Portuguese (decent), not Brazilian.

Ronnie.