How would you describe the three weapons?

[deepwave]

I've heard people trying to explain the differences in fencing weapon, but often the descriptions are incorrect (I'm attributing that to the particular fencers' preference). I would like suggestions/examples of (hopefully correct) ways to describe the weapons to people that are interested in picking up fencing and need to pick a weapon (please don't post stuff that is prejudice against any one weapon, they're all challenging in their own way). Ideas would be appreciated.

(also, if there is already a thread about this, I'm sorry, but I couldn't find it.

[Stormbringer]

I would say that the Wikipedia articles, as of this writing, do a rather good job of being informative and appearing to be relatively unbiased:

Epee
Foil
Sabre

As such, they seem a decent place to start what would hopefully be a long and enjoyable journey...

[Esotamoc]

Epee for practical, logical minded people-appreciate tactics and logic of the sport without concern for form. Also like to control things

Foil for self-conscious people who like to look at themselves in the mirror-appreciate the style of the sport. Foilists are overly concerned about other people's opinions and will conform to whatever they think others think is cool.

Sabre appeals to strong individuals who may be a liitle weird in some way. Emotional and enjoy the thrill sabre matches offer.

[Esotamoc]

I would say that the Wikipedia articles, as of this writing, do a rather good job of being informative and appearing to be relatively unbiased:

Epee
Foil
Sabre

As such, they seem a decent place to start what would hopefully be a long and enjoyable journey...

Oh gee- who would have thought of looking it up on wiki

you must interweb very well!

[rory]

How would you describe the three weapons?

Pointy.

[Esotamoc]

Pointy.

that's poetic

[Grasshopper]

Foil for self-conscious people who like to look at themselves in the mirror-appreciate the style of the sport. Foilists are overly concerned about other people's opinions and will conform to whatever they think others think is cool.

With FIE foil fashion trends changing every season, it is hard for us ladies to keep up! But dear me, I don't have time to write about this. I have to start sewing a half electric bib on my new bubble mask. Oh la dee da.

[deepwave]

Epee for practical, logical minded people-appreciate tactics and logic of the sport without concern for form. Also like to control things

Foil for self-conscious people who like to look at themselves in the mirror-appreciate the style of the sport. Foilists are overly concerned about other people's opinions and will conform to whatever they think others think is cool.

Sabre appeals to strong individuals who may be a liitle weird in some way. Emotional and enjoy the thrill sabre matches offer.

Please read all of what I was asking for and then read your post. I am an epéeist and I know for a fact that we do care a great deal about form. Just because our form is different than the foilists' does not mean that we don't care about it. As I said before, we care a lot.Whether or not someone cares about form has more to do with how much they care about the sport, it has nothing to do with what weapon they fence. I also find your description of foilists to be untrue. Whether or not someone conforms to what other people 'think is cool' depends more on their personality (or lack there of), not on their weapon. Sabre, the description there applies to all of us, and I am assuming you fence that weapon, since that is the only one you posted in favor of. Please do not bash the other weapons and please do not post these things, since they are not true.

[deepwave]

Pointy.

Ooh, I actually get a kick out of this post. Accurate too!

[foilwatcher]

I usually try to keep the description simple when explaining it to a newbie. Point weapons vs. slashing blade. Target area (lame, or none). It usually hangs up on the "right of way" thing, but I usually say "they take turns" (I know, that sounds ridiculous, but at least you can get back to watching the bout without trying to explain further)!

[Inquartata]

Please do not bash the other weapons and please do not post these things, since they are not true.

Ah..."Just Joined". That explains it.

Prepare to be horrified...'cause playing the dozens on each others' weapons is a way of life here.

[Grasshopper]

Point weapons vs. slashing blade. Target area (lame, or none)

Yes, I think the new foil target area is lame.

[foilwatcher]

...hey, I don't know why 3 years on this forum is "just joined"....and I was talking how to explain it to someone who never saw fencing before!

[epeelion]

Epee for practical, logical minded people-appreciate tactics and logic of the sport without concern for form.

without concern for form.

WTF? Seriously?

[Superscribe]

What you bolded is actually the only thing I agree with in the original statement.

[epeelion]

Interesting. Because it's wrong. Form is quite important in epee. It's not the only thing, and one CAN fence without it, but most, if not all top international fencers have it. I would say epee is the most technically intensive of the three weapons. At least, top epee. The Jeannets, Kolobkov, Tagliariol, Boisse, Kulcsar, Boczko, Confalonieri, Abajo, Verwijlen, etc. Of the top, say, 25 fencers in the world, the only one that I would say has truly weird technique is Seth. Of the other fencers, I can pretty much guarantee that they spend quite a bit of time refining and maintaining form. And my opinion is that this does cause him problems against fencers that are equally tactically proficient but have better form.

Even if you fence a Harmenberg style (sort of what I think Seth has), you have to have a high level of technical proficiency to execute the actions you need.

[telkanuru]

I'd say that ME and WS are pretty much tied for most technically exacting, but otherwise what he said.

[Inquartata]

...hey, I don't know why 3 years on this forum is "just joined"

I venture to conclude that it is because of the paucity of your posts...

you have to have a high level of technical proficiency to execute the actions you need.

That establishes a definition so broad as to be practically useless. It boils down to: success means that you must have proper form...

[Rockstar44]

See this thread:

Personality and Weapon Choice?

I think that The Nameless One put it quite succinctly....

[epeelion]

It boils down to: success means that you must have proper form...

Good job! :ats on head::

More precisely, perhaps not every successful fencer has good form, but good form facilitates having success, and the vast majority do.

Is it strange to suggest that good form leads to success? I don't find it a novel concept...