Loi Miranda was my last escrima teacher. When he joined the Philippines (Army) during WW2., he was older than most. He was called the old man in his unit. As there are different styles of karate, in the Philippines there are different styles of escrima. Loi Mirandawas from a certain part of the Philippines, Pangaisinan that is known for its form of escrima, largo mano (long hand) or long range escrima. A younger Filipino was fooling around and was challenging others to a match with the baston (stick) and asked Miranda to do a match with him. He said "Old man. You from Pangasianan, you know escrima! Lets have a match. " Loi answered "I don't know anything. "The challenger kept bugging Miranda to a match and Miranda kept saying he didn't know anything. The young challenger through a stick to Miranda who instinctively caught it and the young challenger made a strike at Miranda. Miranda thrust at the challenger face and hit him in the face knocking him to the floor. While the young challenger who was stunned by the quick and effective move of Miranda was wiping the blood from his face, Mirada through the stick on the floor and while walking past the defeated challenger said, "I told you I don't know anything.

Moral of the story, be careful what you ask for.

PS While Loi Miranda said he didn't know anything, he did know escrima. ;-) Have a nice day. AJ

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