Rapscallion's Riposte

2008-01-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

And so begins my first voyage into the Blog-o-Tubes. So far it doesn't seem too bad. First off I suppose I ought to explain the name of the blog. For starters, I'm a sucker for alliteration. As for the actual words, Rapscallion has always been one of my favorites, you'll find its definition in the "About Me" section over there -->. If I ever happen to captain a ship (not a boat) I think Rapscallion would be the name I'd choose for it. Doesn't it look good in italics like that? I like it. A riposte is a mildly obscure fencing term, an offensive action with the intent of hitting one's opponent, made by the fencer who has just parried an attack. Thus: my opponent attacks me, I parry his attack and then return with one of my own, a riposte. The E is silent, meaning the word is pronounced ri-post. (I note that because I used to think it was three syllables and felt dumb when I found out.) I like the idea of the riposte because it's a justified attack, and a skillful one, because the fencer must anticipate his opponent's attack and deflect it before returning his own--otherwise (sans parry) he would be performing a counter-attack, not a riposte. Because it is by nature an attack occurring only after the enemy's attack, the riposte is exemplified in my favorite combat doctrines, Tit for Tat and Erratic Retaliator. We'll get to them later.

In fact, it seems I've gotten to a lot of things later, because after writing that paragraph up there I neglected my blogging duties for a number of months. Not a promising start, perhaps, but we all know how difficult/odd it is to blog while admidst those you'd usually be blogging to. However, we don't always have time or inclination to talk about everything we'd like to, and so I'll be laying down my thoughts here for both the friends who aren't with me and so I can have the catharsis of getting all the thoughts out of my head that we aren't usually able to express.