Mailbag! What do you call...those things you do?

Hi guys, What is the proper term for...all those things you learn when you do martial arts? Like each punch has a name, if you do Jiu-Jitsu, each submission has a name...is it a technique? an expression?

Hm. That's a tough one. Much like anything else related to martial arts, there's a varying amount of consistency within a style and almost no consistency between styles. So, there's no real answer. The following might give you a better idea of what tendencies people have, so you an at least be in the right ballpark.

Wrestlers often refer to "moves," karateka and jiu-jitsu players (among others) have "techniques," and right before a fight, Dangerous asked me to show him "that retard thing."*

But the above could also be plural. A thing could also be, "that...thing from the mount" (where they refer to moving from mount to S-mount to an armbar submission). A move could refer to a sequence of discreet techniques that others might refer to as a sequence. Boxers have "combinations" and savateurs "enchainments."

Do note that if the person you're talking to is a real stickler (or a jagoff), you should probably just call it whatever they do, if only to avoid having them talk to your ear off for hours about what, and why, it is what it is.

* He was, of course, asking about the Rubber Guard's retard control.

CC-licensed photo by Nick Lo.