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PARKOUR

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:55 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• parkour •

Pronunciation: pahr-kurHear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, Verb

Meaning: Free running; running through an urban area performing gymnastic maneuvers to get past obstacles.

Notes: This is a new word little known because so few people have the opportunity to use it. Other than the videos on YouTube, which many people have watched, few can emulate the antics portrayed in them. A person who can is called a traceur or parkourist.

In Play: Parkour is definitely for the well-trained young: "Don't go jumping over any fences today, dad; you're too old for parkour." Remember this word can be—as Pogo once put it—'verbed': "Jason Rainbows was parkouring yesterday when he missed a leap from one building to another." Don't worry: Jason caught onto a gutter, which broke away from the roof and slowly lowered him to the ground.

Word History: Parkour developed in the 80s in Paris when a sneaker-clad teenage Parisian named David Belle began navigating public spaces, using obstacles as springboards and catapults. The name comes from French parcours "circuit, course, race", comprising par "through" + cours "course". This word goes back to Old French cors "a run, running, flow" from Latin cursus "a running, course, journey", from past participle of currere "to run". The root of this word appears widely in English, beginning with course itself. But we see it also in current, corridor (apparently running was once allowed), carriage, car, and curriculum, of course, a course of courses. Carpenter belongs among these. It comes from a Latin phrase carpentarius artifex "maker of carriages", from carpentum, a two-wheeled carriage. (Paul Chalfant, pankourist or not, successfully brought today's new Good Word to our attention.)

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 5:36 am
by bnjtokyo
For more information on parkour, see "No Obstacles" by Alec Wilkinson in the April 16, 2007 New Yorker. Pretty impressive urban guerrilla sport.

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:27 am
by MTC
Wow! Thanks to Paul Chalfant and Dr. Goodword for pointing out this dynamic word which almost vaults off the page.

Wikipedia has an informative article which includes videos and extensive references including the New Yorker piece referred to by bjntokyo (thanks also):

Parkour (French pronunciation: ​[paʁˈkuʁ]) (abbreviated PK), also called as the "art of displacement",[1] is a training discipline that developed out of military obstacle course training.[2][3][4]

Practitioners aim to move from one place to another, negotiating the obstacles in between. The discipline uses no equipment and is non-competitive. A male practitioner is generally called a "traceur", a female a "traceuse".

Developed by Raymond Belle, David Belle, Sébastien Foucan and other members of the original Yamakasi group, parkour became popular in the 1990s and 2000s through a series of documentaries and films featuring these practitioners and others.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour)

See you in he park!

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:17 pm
by Perry Lassiter
I watched the video that Doc posted and was very impressed. Did anyone else be amazed at the filming crew and/or editors of the vid? I suspect for convenience the runner did multiple short sequences, else the feat would have taken a couple of dozen photographers on stakeout.

PS- I loved the way MTC threw in traceur as a deadpan bonus.

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:39 pm
by LukeJavan8
I've seen a couple movies where kids doing this
is the theme. They are really expert. And to think
the most dangerous thing I've done is roller skate
as a pre-teen.

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:42 am
by Perry Lassiter
Wimp. I roller skated a number of times as an adult.

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 1:56 am
by Philip Hudson
"Oh you can't go to heaven, on roller skates.
'Cause you'll roll right by those pearly gates."
- Anonymous boy’s camp song (maybe girl’s camp too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gNdnv32gA4

If you grww up in an endless sea of sand with no sidewalks, roller skates were out of the question.

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 7:56 am
by MTC
...which brings to mind the little-known Arabian idiom, "like rollerskatin' down a sand dune."

usage examples:

"Congress struggled to reach a fixed budget like a man rollerskatin' down a sanddune."

"Well, that went smoothly." (ironically)
"Yeah, like rollerskatin' down a sand dune."

from The Apocrypha of MTC

Re: PARKOUR

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:56 pm
by LukeJavan8
Wimp. I roller skated a number of times as an adult.

"Humpf"
-show off