When Chesley Sullenberger radioed a Mayday call, that he’d lost power in both the engines of US Airways Flight 1549, he made one mistake, he got his call-sign wrong; he said “Cactus 1539”, instead of “Cactus 1549” – remarkably, everything else he and his co-pilot said/did were on the money, and 4 minutes later, he landed the plane in the Hudson River, with the loss of no lives. It was a minor, inconsequential error, however it demonstrates that trying to recall names, codes, and similar under stress and duress, is not something we do naturally or easily. Depending on the code/term, we may have to go through a process of translation, as we search for its meaning, or even refer to, or look it up in a manual or glossary. 

Institutions will often have security codes that refer to different types of threats and dangers e.g. a hospital might use a certain security code, to refer to a potentially violent patient who is unaccounted for, and another one for when there is an active shooter in the building, etc. In the case of the missing patient, using a code, is a good way of informing those who know what the translation of the code is, whilst not causing potential alarm and panic in those who don’t. However, when it comes to informing everyone about the presence of an active shooter/killer, the use of a code/term, means that only those who are able to translate the code, will be aware of the danger. There is also the risk, that people translate the code incorrectly, and believe that they are safe and don’t have to act, when the opposite is true. Codes and terminology are good ways to communicate information to a select audience, however they are terrible ways to inform the general population of something; in such cases, using ordinary, descriptive language is the best e.g. “there is an active shooter in the building…” as opposed to, “it’s a code 43”, or, “it’s a code blue”, etc.

Martial Artists like terminology – it’s our language. It allows us to talk to each other, and only have those who are also martial artists understand what we are saying. When I used to do a lot of personal training, I felt it was essential for my clients to know the correct anatomical terms for their body parts; I believed that part of my job was to educate them, so that they became better aware of their own body. In retrospect, it made no difference to them if they were doing an exercise that strengthened the muscles of the back of their arm, or one that strengthened their Triceps muscle(s) – the choice of language used, didn’t change the result. However, if I wanted to strengthen a particular part of the Triceps, it may be useful to explain that the Triceps Muscle, is in fact a three-headed muscle, where it is possible to isolate and target each “head” individually etc. In the initial stages of training the terminology becomes a barrier for communication, however later on it can – in certain cases – be useful. Terminology becomes useful, when it contains descriptive language that can aid memory, and communicate ideas e.g. “Tri” meaning three, etc.

This is something that Jigaro Kano, the founder/creator of Judo understood very well; the description of each throws is contained in its name, and references the action that needs to be performed. O-Soto-Gari, translated is Major (O), Outer (Soto), Reap (Gari) i.e. it is a large reaping action performed on the outside of an assailant’s leg. The terminology is direct and simple, and needs little translation, to understand which technique/throw it’s referring to. If, however it was referred to as Throw No. 5, which is where it is positioned in the Gokyo – the five throwing sets, which form the basis of Judo – you would need to perform some form of translation, which might involve counting off the throws from the beginning, before you understood which particular throw was being referenced. Jigaro Kano was a professor of education, and understood very well, how we learn and remember things. Numbering systems might work well, if you’re referring to three or four things, but beyond five, our ability to recall accurately and quickly what the numbers refer to is extremely limited. 

When creating/developing frameworks for understanding violence, I have found that the maximum number of items that can be easily recalled is around five, and if it can be broken down into fewer parts even better – and those parts need to be labelled with descriptive titles, that easily make sense. I have spent 20-plus years, teaching corporate and professional clients personal safety and self-protection i.e. how to predict, prevent, identify and avoid violence. In some cases, I have only a 60-minute session, to teach them the predictive skills that they will use to keep themselves safe – sometimes in potentially hostile environments. The language I have to use is everyday descriptive language e.g. I don’t talk about debussing, I talk about getting out of a vehicle, etc. These individuals don’t need to learn military/security terminology; they simply don’t have the time to learn another language and it serves them no purpose. 

In communicating self-protection concepts and principles, and teaching techniques, we should concentrate on using straight-forward descriptive terms, that can easily be recalled and don’t require us to have to make translations. It is not necessary to give names to all that we do, and the less terminology we employ the better. The language we use, should replicate and reflect the situations we are training to deal with, and describe our responses to them. A lack of jargon will make what we do far more accessible to those we aim to teach.