Buy our martial arts gear, get a free... utensil?

I went to buy an escrima bag and a wooden knife earlier today, and as I was leaving the guy offered me a barbecue fork. I took it, but it seems a really strange item to give away at a martial arts supply store. Maybe I have to practice my Q-Fu to understand.

That’s quite peculiar. Maybe it’s Phillipino Awareness Week and he wants you to learn more about…Phillipino grilling?

He certainly wasn’t Filipino. Korean, maybe. But they have barbecue too, so Q-Fu would apply there also.

What the heck is an escrima bag?

I understand the sticks, but I can’t figure out what you need a bag for.

Huh. Last time I bought any MA gear (sparring gear, online), they chucked in a free DVD. “The Legend of the 8 Samurai”.

Mine’s more thematic. Yours is more useful. And also, maybe he’s trying to start a new martial art? Barbeque-do?

It only looks like a barbecue fork to the untrained, undisciplined neophyte; when you are truly ready, you will know what it is.

It’s to put the sticks in silly.

I don’t now nor have I ever been a student of the martial arts (marital arts, yes - martial arts, no) but even I figured out the connection here. The utensil is used as an open indication that your opponent has been vanquished. In other words, stick a fork in him - he’s done.

If you get into a fight in an alley and the cops show up, you shove the bag at the other guy and take off. Then he’s the one left holding the bag.

Heh.