Re: OT: Another Portuguese (?) question

On Nov 4, 2006, at 8:54 PM, Mark J. Reed wrote:

> I can't help, really, other than to point out that "katana" is, IIRC,
> both the general word for "sword" as an overarching weapon class, and
> also a more specific term for the particular  variety of long sword
> that constitutes the "dai" in the traditional Samurai two-sword set
> (called "daishoo", which is a portmanteau of "daitoo" = long sword +
> "shootoo" = short sword).  The smaller sword is called a "wakizashi".
>
> Benefits of having a best friend in high school who wanted to be a
> ninja. (And therefore thought the curvature of the katana a waste of
> metal when compared to the straighter sword associated with the
> assassins, which he called a ninjatoo).
>
> Again IIRC, the morpheme "too" that appears in "daishoo" and "shootoo"
> (and "ninjatoo") means "blade"; it also appears in "tantoo"="knife".
> The rule of thumb is that blades under one foot are tantoo, blades of
> 1-2 feet are shootoo, and blades of 2+ feet are daishoo.
>
	I think in that last paragraph, you meant "daitoo" when you wrote
"daishoo".  :)

> (Technically the unit is the Japanese shaku rather than the English
> foot, but they are approximately equivalent at about 30 cm).
>
> If you need any more useless information only tangentially related to
> your actual question, you know where to find me.
>
> :)

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