I think you’re doing it backwards. 
“That’s not a knife, this is a knife.”
(Sorry, 21 posts and nobody’s said it yet…)
A machete is any large knife that’s designed for clearing brush. There are a wide variety of shapes that will accomplish that task.
I found it interesting that in Trinidad (and I think elsewhere in the English speaking Caribbean) what is basically a machete is called a cutlass, which has nice piratical overtones.
The standard Southern African machete, the panga, has a curved back. You also get ones with drop points. I’d say the most infamous usage of machetes was the Rwanda genocide - look at what they used.
No, I’m just happy to see you.
That’s interesting! Cold Steel also offers a “cutlass machete” :
http://www.coldsteel.com/cutlass-machete.html
Their videos are extremely entertaining, at least to my partially-demented mind.
This doesn’t add anything to the OP’s question but I have a WW2 U.S. Navy machete and it is stamped “Made in the Phillipines”.
Basically the form of a falcata or kopis in a modern rendition. Since the market for historical weapons is probably smaller than the market for practical tools, looks like Cold Steel straddled the line and used a little from column a and column b in the name.
I might actually have to buy that. I’ve been looking for a “Short Sword” and despite statements in Pathfinder (for one example) about how they’re ubiquitous, they really aren’t. I’ve been casting about for something with a 22-24" blade that isn’t some gimmicked piece of shit and has at least minimal aesthetic appeal. This isn’t perfect, and I’ll hold off for now pending finding something better, but I’ll keep it in mind.
I’ll never look at Swan Lake the same way again!! Suck it, Baryshnikov 
The video was fun to watch, and I’ll bet it was even more fun to make, but the ballistic-gel torso didn’t really seem to make the point they wanted it to. It looked to me like they got in a good three or four hits before one that would be reliably fatal, and that even with a stationary target.
And I’m not sure what the two-liter bottles were supposed to prove.
I’ll just add, that when I was in PNG in 1969, a machete was the cheapest, simplest machete you can imagine: straight sides, flat blade, for people that couldn’t afford anything flash.
Tje inside curve of the item shown means it can be used with less wrist effort, and also has an effect like a reaper (gathering light material into the bite). And I’m guessing it has a slightly thickened spine as well.
It looks like it would be an effective machete, but too expensive for the people I knew.
Are you talking about the first linked video of the Kopis Machete, where they severed the entire torso at navel height with one blow. That was scary as fuck.
On the second linked video, with the Cutlass Machete, the first cut penetrated about a third of the way through the rib area. I don’t know if that cut would be “reliably fatal”, but whoever got slashed like that would not be having a good day. Taking three or four cuts before the shoulder section is entirely severed does not say to me “wimpy, wimpy, wimpy.”
And my guess about the soda bottles is that it just looks cool. Though, thinking about it, a filled two-liter soda bottle would be pretty tough to cut through with an ordinary knife.
You should look into replica gladii (gladius singular). That’s the iconic short sword, no frills whatsoever. Another choice would be a Greek xiphos (a short sword with a kind of leaf-shaped blade). This site has a few, but they don’t come cheap !
No, I’m just happy to see you.
♫ Swing my cut-lass
At the tall grass
And anything that gets in my way … ♫
— Jimmy Buffett - “Hippolyte’s Habitat” :rolleyes:
For those that might wonder, the rhythm sound is a machete being sharpened.
I’ve owned Cold Steel knives for years and though I’m primarily a Gerber fan, Cold Steel makes great products. My folding tanto has held up for 15 years to lots of abuse.