Holdovers from the past in weapons or fighting
I'm working on a Batman story involving Cassandra Cain. For anyone not aware of her, she was trained to be a fighter (or more accurately, an assassin) by reading body language as if it were an actual language, but in order to do this, her father kept her from learning to speak or read. She later (magically) learned to speak English, but had difficulty learning to read and write.
I currently have one character helping Cassie with a reading lesson. When Cassie can't understand the function of a silent E at the end of a word (which would have been pronounced in Middle English) her teacher brings it around to the only thing Cassie really knows: fighting.
Unfortunately, not having been trained by Batman, I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of martial arts and weaponry, so I have no idea what the equivalent of a silent E would be. I'm sure in some fighting style, there must be a movement that once had meaning but is now retained only because it's tradition, even if something else might be more effective. Or there might be some kind of weapon that incorporates features of an earlier form that are no longer necessary, possibly a weapon that was developed from some kind of tool. Considering the nature of the character, any era and any place in the world would be an acceptable source.
I've read wikipedia's section on weapons until I was cross-eyed, but I haven't found what I need. I haven't googled because I can't think of appropriate search terms, so any suggestions there would also be appreciated.
Thanks!
I currently have one character helping Cassie with a reading lesson. When Cassie can't understand the function of a silent E at the end of a word (which would have been pronounced in Middle English) her teacher brings it around to the only thing Cassie really knows: fighting.
Unfortunately, not having been trained by Batman, I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of martial arts and weaponry, so I have no idea what the equivalent of a silent E would be. I'm sure in some fighting style, there must be a movement that once had meaning but is now retained only because it's tradition, even if something else might be more effective. Or there might be some kind of weapon that incorporates features of an earlier form that are no longer necessary, possibly a weapon that was developed from some kind of tool. Considering the nature of the character, any era and any place in the world would be an acceptable source.
I've read wikipedia's section on weapons until I was cross-eyed, but I haven't found what I need. I haven't googled because I can't think of appropriate search terms, so any suggestions there would also be appreciated.
Thanks!