The Explanation : To the uninitiate , fencing can be a flake baffling . For example , in modern fencing , the mite are registered electronically but there ’s still a referee ( also called a President of the United States ) who can call hit that did n’t register electronically or overrule single that did . But all that ’s beside the point . To begin with , fencing can be broken down into three major categories .
The first is transparency , the light and most pliant of the fencing weapons . In foil , the only valid target area is the opponent ’s body ( close to from the top of the shoe collar to the crotch in front , and to the top of the hipbones in the back ) . The weapon , pegleg , and head are no estimable , and only hits with the enhancer ’s tip are reckon . Basically , transparency fencing is a modernized form of what was , traditionally , sword - struggle exercise — like , if someone made a sport out of hitting tackle blocks .
If you are really dueling with a seriously sharp-worded rapier , any jot anywhere on the body would hurt . And that ’s the lineage of the à © pà © e , a heavier , more rigid interpretation of the foil , with a triangular blade and a larger , " bowl - shaped" vane guard ( to protect the hand ) . In à © pà © vitamin E , a person ’s whole body is fair biz , including the head . Like foil , à © pà © e jot must be made with only the tip , and both discipline necessitate the fencers to cease after each touch is made , whether on a valid target domain or not .
The last discipline is saber , an incredibly fast - paced whack fest that ’s a hand - me - down from the day of cavalrymen thresh aside on horseback . The fencing saber is heavier and has a with child , curved hand sentry duty . The target region is anything from the waist up ( the theatrical role you ’d be swing out at if you and your opposition were both on horses ) . But two big differences make sabre the most frenetic of the disciplines . First , the boundary of the sabre can be used as well as the gunpoint , so slashes are valid hits ; and second , the round does not stop after an off - quarry strike , so the opponent will whack and slash at each other until a legal hit is registered , making it a raspberry to watch .
Vocab LessonLike ballet , fencing is of ( mostly ) Gallic origin and uses a list of French words longer than the fair baguette . For instance , the strip on which the binge take place is the piste . An onrush that strongly browse the opposition ’s sword is a froissement . One that starts before a halt in free rein but lands after is called a coup lancà © . And a leaping , consort attack is scream a flèche .
This Charles William Post was take out from the mental_floss bookWhat ’s the Difference ?
