Talk:needle

RFV discussion
sense: "A weapon used in ancient China, and today by Shaolin monks." not mentioned in Wikipedia, and nothing obvious on google books. Polarpanda 22:26, 28 March 2010 (UTC)


 * It is. In Mandarin, it's called a 刺 (cì) meaing to prod or to prick and in this case used as a noun meaning a thin needle-like weapon. It's traditionally an assassin's weapon (hence the word 刺客 meaning assassin). One of the most respected needles is the Ermei needle. The wielder usually uses two needles, one in each hand when engaging in combat. The needle is about the length of a grown man's forearm. Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 07:35, 1 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Well ,it sounds convincing to me -- but you need to show citations of people calling it a needle in English. < class="latinx">Ƿidsiþ 08:05, 1 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I have now included a google book result for it as a citation with illustration of the actual weapon. Hope this helps. Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 10:31, 2 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Weird... Wenlin only lists "①thorn; splinter ②〈wr.〉 visiting card" as noun definitions of 刺. I've certainly never heard "needle" used in English in this fashion and indeed Google Books does not yield anything convincing. 114.78.197.87 11:29, 1 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I had never heard of the word hoplon until I started to read about Roman history. If you keeping reading the book that I've provided as a citation on the entry's citation page, you will see a lot more words that you've never heard before. As authoritative as Wenlin can be as a dictionary, it will always have something missing. Here is a link from alibaba (a Chinese trading site) for a pair of Ermei needles. Keep in mind that because there aren't any similar weapons in English speaking cultures, the word needle to mean 刺 is only an approximation. There might be other translations of the word in English, but a needle is definitely the most common. P.S. I believe it's called a needle in English as it's originally called a 针. I hope it makes sense to you now.  Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 10:23, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I think your citation reads The Emei Sting was originally called "Emei Needle" (Emei Zhen) which is something, but I believe only counts as a mention, not a usage. Polarpanda 11:17, 2 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I would imagine that most Chinese Kungfu novels such as 证魂道 have gone untranslated. So the actual use of this word in English is probably very rare. However a simple search should give you plenty of descriptions for this weapon: Emei_Sect. (This is more for the anon - an article on 峨嵋刺, the most well-known needle on zh wiki.) Here is one that lists books on Kungfu and ancient Chinese weapons . Unfortunately I do not have access to these books to show you any reference to the needles from different Kungfu sects, Ermei being one of them. Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 13:09, 2 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Here is another one about Bagua needles (used by Taoists - another Kungfu sect as well as a religious sect) Note that this is in pdf Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 13:32, 2 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Sorry, the anon IP earlier was me (forgot to login). My implication wasn't that Wenlin is a golden standard or that my personal experience is gospel (of course, it isn't), I was merely making a general comment. Your evidence is convincing. I would keep this sense, provided you supply the required citations. Moreover, adding a (rare) tag wouldn't go astray. ---&gt; Tooironic 14:50, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

RFV failed, sense removed. —Ruakh TALK 02:22, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

I personally have heard these needles called ermey needles, but if you enter this into a search engine, you will likely find no related information.