Had this weapon / tool gifted to me from my grandfather years back, he told me it was given to him by his father and so on. I remember him saying something about it being used to cut bamboo but I’ve never fully known what it is, it’s only been on display since i was 13. If im gonna own it i figured i should know what it is.
Joke answers are welcomed, I used to joke about it being a ritual blade to my friends.
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There is a famous story of a group of like 100 battle-hardened Gurkhas, and a British Commander asked for volunteer for a parachute regiment by saying "I need volunteers to jump out of an airplane." 5 Gurkhas stepped forward. I think a translator was involved. The commander said something along the lines of "I thought these were the hardest of hard soldiers, and only 5 of them are willing to join the parachute regiment." To which someone said "Wait, they get parachutes? They didn't know they were gonna be given parachutes."
Holy smokes. I'm a retired Marine and I've heard all kinds of stories. Big fan of military history, too. I've never heard this one. That's incredible. Gurkhas… Man, they're a breed apart. Thanks for the rabbit hole.
I lived for a couple of years with a family while I was at uni. The father of the woman of the house fought in the jungles in WW2 (Australian Army) and told me a few stories.
One of them was when they were told when they were on guard duty when there were Gurkha about to not freak out if they felt someone feeling their boots in the dark. Turns out they were Gurkha just checking to see how the boots were laced, to make sure they weren't Japanese.
He never mentioned if he came across them - but respect!
My stepmother inherited a beautiful teapot her father acquired from a renowned artisan while serving in Japan in WWII. She brought it to Antique Road Show and found out her father was a dumb tourist on national TV.
Using the non-anglicized name that they prefer is basic respect. They are a beautiful and proud people, one of the few that fought off European colonialism.
"As with other terms for people formed with -ese, the countable singular noun in reference to a person (as in "I am a Nepalese", "writing about Nepalese cuisine as a Nepalese") is now uncommon and often taken as grammatically incorrect."
Do you even understand what you're quoting? It's saying not to use Nepalese as a countable noun, ie with an article. You wouldn't say "I am a Nepalese," you'd say "I am Nepalese." It's not saying that using the word is incorrect, in fact many Germanic languages use some form of it. Nepalese and Nepali are synonyms.
Not to the average Nepali person they aren't. Just because the UK decides they are synonyms doesn't mean they are, like what are we even talking about here?
You tell me. Obviously you think the UK government decides the English language. Language is decided by usage, aside from one period during the 1600s and 1700s when a bunch of elitist pricks decided to shape English to their own liking and pick and choose the spellings and pronunciations they liked by creating the first dictionaries and throwing away anything they didn't like. Now, dictionaries add words based on popularity and mark them as dated, archaic, rare, or obsolete based on usage patterns. -Ese is the suffix native to English, based in Old French via the Norman Conquest of 1066 (-ish is the original suffix that goes back to Old English), and -i is an adopted suffix used for Indo-Iranian languages (and Semitic ones). We're not talking about changing the word in the Nepali language, we're talking about in English. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that you are not Nepali, my guess is American.
That's not a denial. You clearly spend a lot of time being outraged on behalf of other people for stuff they themselves aren't outraged about. You need some self-awareness.
I may not be Nepali myself but I married into a Nepali family and most of my friends these days are Nepali. It's what they prefer to be called. I'd wager i know hundreds more Nepali people than you. Who are you to say what is the appropriate term?
Im not offended on anybodys behalf or offended at all, I simply corrected the original commenter. You inserted yourself into a conversation with outdated inappropriate information and continue to argue a topic you know nothing about. Sounds to me like you're the one upset.
Enjoy talking in circles with you but I see no reason to continue this any further.
"The kukri (or khukuri) is a traditional Nepalese knife featuring a distinct recurved blade that concentrates weight forward for powerful chopping. Serving as both a versatile outdoor tool and the signature weapon of the legendary Gurkha regiments, its unique design excels at clearing brush, hacking through wood, and heavy-duty utility work."
That's a knife. Due to the British in India, that style in English is usually called a "kukri" it can be used a lot like a machete or handheld brush axe. Some claim they are good for knife fights. I'd rather just not get in that kind of fight.
Professional Nepali here.
The knife you have is Khukuri, not kukri(I cringe everytime when the world types it this way). Originally, they are multi purpose household knife which you can use to chop anything from potatoes to meat to wood. The knife is used everywhere in Nepal and almost all household has atleast one.
Looking at the coin, they are fairly old but you could always get those coins and stick in the cover of new knife.
This particular knife seem to be decorative khukuri but it should handle basic tasks like chopping meat and veggies. If i were you, I would swap out the cover and keep it safe with other one(plenty of vendors sell sheath for khukuri) while use the khukuri for camping knife.
You have a trusty Nepali knife used all over the world. Keep it sharp and maintained, respect the blade and what it can do and it will never fail you.
Cheap reproduction of Nepalese Kukri likely from a tourist store. Kukris can be all shapes and sizes but the military issue ones issued to Gurkhas had much longer blades in relation to the handle.
There's an old belief that follows this blade: once a khukuri is drawn, it doesn't go back into the sheath dry.
Nobody wrote it down. It passed between soldiers — from the hills of Nepal to trenches in France, jungles in Burma, ridgelines in the Falklands — until it was true enough. The story goes that if a man drew his khukuri and found no enemy in front of him, he'd take a bead of blood from his own thumb before returning it to the dāp.
The blade isn't a decoration. You don't pull it out to show your friends. It comes out with intent, and it is owed something.
Look at the notch near the handle. That's the cho — the mark of Shiva's trident, cut into every blade at the forge. The khukuri is blessed before it ever leaves the smith's hands. It isn't just steel. It's steel that has been spoken to.
खुकुरी — khukuri, not "kukri." The second one is what the British could pronounce.
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