A to Z: Sabre

Sabre: a fencing weapon with a flat blade and knuckle guard, used with cutting or thrusting actions; a military sword popular in the 18th to 20th centuries; any cutting sword used by cavalry.

That's the dictionary definition.

Saber/Sabre - the most awesome, realistic fencing weapon fenced competitively at district, regional, national and international events! (my definition)

A lesser known fact about saber: Women's saber fencing didn't get added to the Olympics until Athens 2004! Really. Around the world, fencing has always been a bit of a "men's club", but for some reason, even after decades of women fencing foil and epee, saber fencing was seen as too rough and aggressive for women. Ha! Women were fencing saber in the USA far before the Olympics allowed women's saber competition, and because of that, in 2004, US Women took Gold and Bronze. Of course, now women's saber is being fenced competitively all over the world and the competition is becoming fierce.

Oh, and as I mentioned before, there are personality stereotypes that seem to go with each weapon. Foil fencers are considered to be every day Joes and Jills; epee fencers are often graceful and reserved; and saber fencers are considered aggressive, passionate, sometimes even arrogant. 
However, these are just stereotypes, and plenty of saber fencers are really fun people to hang out with and talk to . . .of course, I could just think that because I used to be one. :) (or at least I used to fence both foil and saber)

I had a cool video, but it was removed from youtube between the time I wrote this and the time I posted. Sorry. I don't have time this morning to replace it. :(

There are loads of other "S" terms in fencing, but don't worry, the rest of the alphabet is sparse for fencing lingo.

Salle: a fencing hall or club.

Salute: with the weapon, a customary acknowledgement of one's opponent and referee at the start and end of the bout.

Schlager: German fraternity duelling sword, used with cuts to the face and no footwork. (I had never heard of this before but found it in a fencing glossary and thought it might be interesting to research at some point)

Second Intention: a false action used to draw a response from the opponent, which will open the opportunity for the intended action that follows, typically a counter-riposte.

Seconde: parry #2; blade down and to the outside, wrist pronated.

Septime: parry #7; blade down and to the inside, wrist supinated.

Simple: executed in one movement; an attack or riposte that involves no feints.

Simultaneous: in foil and sabre, two attacks for which the right-of-way is too close to determine.  

Single-time: also "stesso tempo"; parry-riposte as a single action.

Sixte: parry #6; blade up and to the outside, wrist supinated.

Small Sword: a light duelling sword popular in the 17th-18th centuries, precursor to the foil. (Something I would like to research more.)

Stop Hit: a counter-attack that hits; also a counter-attack whose touch is valid by virtue of its timing.

Stop Cut: a stop-hit with the edge in sabre, typically to the sleeve.

Happy A to Z!
Remember, live and write with passion!
(That's one of the lessons I think we can learn from saber fencers)

 

A to Z Challenge: Quinte and Celebrate the Small Things!

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

Today's word: Quinte, or parry 5.

Didn't we just cover parries yesterday?

Yes.

However, in saber, Quinte is a bit different. Check out the diagram:

 

In saber fencing, the head is one of the main targets. Sure, it's target area in epee fencing too, but it seems like epee fencers like hitting hands, wrists, feet, and elbows. while saber fencers are far more likely to whack each other in the head, maybe because saber fencers can score points with both the point and the edge of the blade. (point and edge being relative, considering that they are dull edged)

 

That's it for today!

 

Happy A to Z!

 

Tomorrow I'll hit Right-of-Way and Ripostes.

 

 

Celebrate the Small Things

 

1. I'm surviving A to Z, although for a day or so there, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. There are so many awesome posts, and my blog time is running out each day.

 

2. I started writing poetry again after a long hiatus. It's bad stuff so far, but it just makes me more determined to write more because I know I can write better poetry than that stuff I've produced in the last few days.

 

3. My crit partner for Champion in the Darkness has agreed to help crit Champion in Flight. Yay for awesome crit partners!

 

4. My book is on Kindle Select, on sale, after a bit of fuss with Nook not taking it off sale even after I pushed the "take off sale" button.

Check out Champion in the Darkness for 99 cents here.

 

5. I cleaned up the two front garden beds. We have two trees that produce massive amounts of gorgeous flowers in the early spring, and then they proceed to dump all those blossoms on the ground in the front garden beds. The flowers are beautiful, and I know the hard work is good for me.

 

 

What are you celebrating today?