# 'Death Touch' research ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375 "2004-05-21T15:54:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/21 "2004-05-26T14:01:52Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > **soaklord** , I think you mean the vagus nerve. Yeah, you’re really gambling when you mess with the vegas nerve. Re the Russian article: While you’re reading it, check out the other fine articles listed on the right-hand side of the page:[ul] [li]Alien Visits Russians Province[/li][li]Israel Opens Gates of Hell[/li][li]Pregnant for Half a Century[/li][li]Russian Time Machine[/li][/ul] Good stuff. RR ---
**Author:** ![soaklord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@soaklord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soaklord)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/22 "2004-05-26T23:21:09Z")
Hukt on Fonix werkt for me! Sorry about the spelling, didn’t mean to throw gambling into fighting. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/23 "2004-05-27T16:26:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Ambiguity, there, in whether the paranthetical was supposed to agree with “the predominant path” or “against the predominant path”. Kinda makes you wish we had a standard precedence in English, or grouping delimiters, doesn’t it? Nah, I get endless amusement by deliberately misinterpreting this sort of thing. As you might imagine, this practice makes me very popular. One of these days someone’s going to try to Dim Mak me . . . I just hope it doesn’t really work. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/24 "2004-05-27T16:34:20Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > One of these days someone’s going to try to Dim Mak me . . . I just hope it doesn’t really work. Well, from the evidence here, you should be able to make a decision. Whether or not it’s the right decision… ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/25 "2004-05-28T14:56:46Z")
A Japanese co-worker informs me that “Kyusho Jitsu” does not really translate to “touch of death”. Kyusho roughly means sensitive body part (he pointed to his crotch while explaining the translation). So kyusho jitsu is any attack to a sensitive area, including a kick to the groin. ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/26 "2004-06-19T16:52:01Z")
Can somebody put the VC and AP terms in laymans terms? Thanks. “Biomechanical aspects were given consideration early by Schlomka et al (17,18), who determined the risk of commotio cordis to be proportional to both the speed and force of the impact and inversely proportional to the size of the contact area. Much later, Bir and Viano (30) reviewed studies that evaluated the biomechanical response of the thorax to blunt trauma; factors investigated included the magnitude of chest compression, rate of chest deformation, and the viscous criterion (VC) as predictors of the degree of cardiac injury. Review showed that the VC (an index of the magnitude of chest wall deflection plus the velocity of deflection, normalized for AP thickness) was the best predictor of commotio cordis (30). The VC was proportional to the likelihood of an adverse cardiac effect. Mechanisms considered to produce the cardiac effect include abrupt deceleration of the heart as it strikes the sternum or spine (7,31), a direct concussive effect from chest wall impact (5), and, in more severe chest blows such as those occurring in vehicular accidents, a crush injury as the heart is compressed between the sternum and the spine (7,31).” Source: [http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/11\_00/vincent.htm](http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/11_00/vincent.htm) 😕 ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/27 "2004-06-19T16:55:54Z")
Oh, forget to add: how do you pronounce “commotio cordis” and what does it mean? ---
**Author:** ![bauble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@bauble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bauble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/28 "2004-06-25T18:25:21Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > A Japanese co-worker informs me that “Kyusho Jitsu” does not really translate to “touch of death”. Kyusho roughly means sensitive body part (he pointed to his crotch while explaining the translation). So kyusho jitsu is any attack to a sensitive area, including a kick to the groin. I’ll second your co-worker’s definition - that’s what we work on when practicing kyusho (not just groin strikes, but stiking sensitive areas). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375/29 "2004-06-26T02:24:32Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Just this week on Fox’s local news here in Chicago there was a report on a man who claims that his Dim Mak prowess was such that he could knock a person out _without actually coming in contact_ with the person. That might be possible. There’s been times riding the public bus that some unhygenic person has sat near me, and nearly knocked me out without ever coming in contact with me. But maybe it’s my own fault; maybe it is a lack of oxygen from holding my breath rather than face the stink in the air. But I never knew that this was a specific part of Asian martial arts, though. I always thought they were just plain old American slobs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-touch-research/246375.md?page=1)