# Slang term: Kung Fu (possibly TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 1, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-term-kung-fu-possibly-tmi/226995 "2004-02-01T04:21:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CADOp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@CADOp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CADOp)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-term-kung-fu-possibly-tmi/226995/1 "2004-02-01T04:21:36Z")
I thought about posting this in GQ, but decided it was too trivial Ok, so when I was in college, I had a roomate briefly who had some kinda interesting friends. One of them apparently had a reputation among the others for _always_ using hand lotion, vaseline, etc. whenever he would “choke the chicken” (don’t ask me how they knew this). They were always harassing him about it and trying to convince him that he needed to learn how to “kung-fu” it, which was their term for, shall we say, hand-to-hand combat with Sgt. Winkie. Has anyone else has heard the phrase “kung-fu” used like that? There wasn’t anything on [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com) that matched, but it just seemed too perfect of a slang phrase to not be in widespread use _somewhere_. Did they just make that usage up? ---
**Author:** ![SanguineSpider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SanguineSpider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanguineSpider)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-term-kung-fu-possibly-tmi/226995/2 "2004-02-01T04:26:19Z")
Action figures with the infamous “Kung-fu grip” come to mind… ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-term-kung-fu-possibly-tmi/226995/3 "2004-02-01T17:18:31Z")
A googled translation of “Kung Fu” (or “Gong Fu”) is “hard work”. I was hoping it was more like “the way of the empty hand” or “the way of the hand and foot”, but no such luck. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-term-kung-fu-possibly-tmi/226995/4 "2004-02-01T18:25:49Z")
It’s got to be from the GI Joe “Kung Fu Grip” figure. Check [this picture](http://www.mysite4u.com/toys/gijoe/images/Dsc00045_jpg.jpg) and you’ll see why. Now, why these guys cared so much how anybody yanked their crank is really beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Barber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@Art\_Barber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Barber)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-term-kung-fu-possibly-tmi/226995/5 "2004-02-02T13:01:59Z")
[QUOTE=CADOp] One of them apparently had a reputation among the others for _always_ using hand lotion, vaseline, etc. whenever he would “choke the chicken” (don’t ask me how they knew this). They were always harassing him about it and trying to convince him that he needed to learn how to “kung-fu” it, which was their term for, shall we say, hand-to-hand combat with Sgt. Winkie./QUOTE] Never heard the term. The real issue is why this “friend of yours” needed to jo without the use of lubes. How, exactly, is such usage a threat to the civil order? Democracy does not appear to be threatened; hot dogs and apple pie still readily available. However, while we are on the subject, I do implore those unimaginative sorts to avail themselves to a more pleasurable hand grip than the standard “underhand grip with thumb in front”. Try the “overhand grip with thumb next to abdomen”. Seems weird at first, but once you get used to it, all those fingertips underneath can lend _much_ more meaning to the phrase “fine motor movements”. Art ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Barber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@Art\_Barber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Barber)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-term-kung-fu-possibly-tmi/226995/6 "2004-02-02T13:03:25Z")
> [@CADOp](#): > > One of them apparently had a reputation among the others for _always_ using hand lotion, vaseline, etc. whenever he would “choke the chicken” (don’t ask me how they knew this). They were always harassing him about it and trying to convince him that he needed to learn how to “kung-fu” it, which was their term for, shall we say, hand-to-hand combat with Sgt. Winkie. Never heard the term. The real issue is why this “friend of yours” needed to jo without the use of lubes. How, exactly, is such usage a threat to the civil order? Democracy does not appear to be threatened; hot dogs and apple pie still readily available. However, while we are on the subject, I do implore those unimaginative sorts to avail themselves to a more pleasurable hand grip than the standard “underhand grip with thumb in front”. Try the “overhand grip with thumb next to abdomen”. Seems weird at first, but once you get used to it, all those fingertips underneath can lend much more meaning to the phrase “fine motor movements”. Art