what's up with chanting/yelling OUS!!

[Raging-Monkey]

my japanese judo sensei told me he does not like oss and in japan it is in fact looked down upon. he said that "tough guys" and "gangsters" yell it to scare/intimidate people and it means almost a "booyah" type of sound. He said that the translation has changed once it came to america/out of japan.

This.

It is a pretty disrespectful term that came out of teaching Karate in universities. It was used to address the tough guy wannabes and is a derogatory term that was brought back via G.I.s studying karate.

The language barier and revisionist history have turned it into a widely used word, but you won't catch me using it. It is rude.

 

[Doughbelly]

It is a pretty disrespectful term that came out of teaching Karate in universities. It was used to address the tough guy wannabes and is a derogatory term that was brought back via G.I.s studying karate.

The language barier and revisionist history have turned it into a widely used word, but you won't catch me using it. It is rude.

Calling "Osu!" rude and disrespectful is pushing it. It IS definitely low class.

But you definitely hit the nail on the head regarding GIs and the martial arts in general.

 

[hughes fan]

There's some weird Japanese stuff that carries through. There are still coaches that say things in Japanese because it was the way they were taught martial arts.