I remember a class back in the early 1990's, we were working on some knife techniques. Standard type knife defense stuff you see in martial arts classes.
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At that time we had a middle-aged Cambodian woman in the class as a white belt. Pretty unassuming woman - plain-looking - quiet - stocky build. I think she was studying something nerdy and boring in college like Plant Pathology.
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After the instructor had demonstrated a technique, she whispered to me, "I don't attack like that when I kill people." I thought that she had just mis-spoken because her Engrish was pretty broken. So, being a smartalek, I jokingly asked her, "How exactly do you hold a knife when you kill people?"
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Without flinching or hesitating, she turned the knife over (icepick grip) and said, "I sneak up behind, grab face like this and jerk back. Then I stab in neck two or three times!" (pumping her hand up and down.)
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I was dumbfounded... Mortified... It was at that point that I realized she must have been a young adult in Cambodia during the 1970's and 1980's. She had not mis-spoken. She'd said exactly what she meant. When she'd killed people she hadn't done it like we were practicing.
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The moral of the story - You can never tell who you are standing next to.
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