Off Topic "Mall Ninja" : Is just mere ownership of certain types of blade enough to earn the title ?

My definition of "mall ninja", and my use of the term applies to people whose attitudes regarding knives and weapons are based in fantasy rather than reality.

I typically use the term when referring to young people (kids, teenagers) who have wild fantasies regarding knives, weapons, and their own "combat" abilities. When referring to adults who suffer from such delusions of grandeur I use terms like "wanna-be SPECOPS/SEAL", or "wanna-be gunfighter".

And I have no problem referring to people using such terms if they earn it by demonstrating behavior that is immature, irresponsible, and/or downright ludicrous, and do it in a way that could hurt responsible knife owners, and the knife community. We face enough societal prejudice already without such idiots making things worse.

I would not however refer to someone by such terms based on their taste in knives, or how many they carry (within reason). After all, the knives I carry, and how I sometimes carry them might very well earn me such labels from some people.
 
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Many are the Spydercos I walked past with my nose slighting upturned, to my eyes they looked like something out of a Bud-K catalog although I'll confess I never looked at one closely. Then I found this forum and it convinced me to buy my first, an Endura/FRN in K390, and I asked for a catalog. In the month after the catalog arrived I'd bought three more and a sharpener. Oops, make that 4 more, I bought one as a Christmas present.
 
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Lol. I sure enjoyed this read.

Shrine of the Mall Ninja – LonelyMachines

lonelymachines.org lonelymachines.org

I will sometimes accuse certain buddies of being mall-ninjas when they buy cheap, clapped-out pawn shop guns with high-speed-low-drag parts, installed by God-knows-who. The ones who do it always claim they got a great deal and they’ll put it back to stock and sell the junk add-on parts. They didn’t, and they never do.
 
NWFRS said:
Lol. I sure enjoyed this read.

Shrine of the Mall Ninja – LonelyMachines

lonelymachines.org lonelymachines.org

I will sometimes accuse certain buddies of being mall-ninjas when they buy cheap, clapped-out pawn shop guns with high-speed-low-drag parts, installed by God-knows-who. The ones who do it always claim they got a great deal and they’ll put it back to stock and sell the junk add-on parts. They didn’t, and they never do.
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That's it! Looks like there's been some judicious editing. But the gist of the story is there.
 
mall ninja

"A person who claims to be an expert on weaponry and likes to brag about their supposed expertise."

Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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By this definition, I knew (and still know) some LEOs who were (are) "mall ninjas."

In fact, there was one at my recent LEOSA requalification session, who failed to requalify on the 1st try.

LOL! 😂
 
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I was behind a “private security” cop the other day at Bass Pro. This psycho dropped $300 on tactical nonsense and walked out to a retired police car with whatever dumb security company logo emblazoned on the side.

Frankly, this mall ninja was just depressing. Broken LEO dreams and whatnot.

Before you ask, yes I was carrying two blades and sporting tactical flip flops.
 
Don't forget the part where you describe all the gear including manufacturer in full detail like you're ghostwriting a Tom Clancy novel.
"As I took evasive action behind the Pepsi brand vending machine I was using as cover quietly, I silently gave thanks for my ExpressShield brand body armor and stealthily unholstered my Sig 365 with its customized Deathkiller 2200 Red Dot sight and Tacticsman Brand TacticMan extended magazine. Slowly I eased my weight back upon my BroncoBilly Tactical Footwear, each sole rated as chemically, heat and explosion resistant. up to 2000 degrees Kelvin..."
 
The term supposedly originates from forum chatter around 2000-2001 but the phenomenon it describes has been around far longer.

I'm no psychologist but it seems to start with younger boys or teens getting into action movies, video games, etc.; and filling a void in their lives with a certain kind of image. There might also be issues with feeling alienated, possibly male unrest in situations of peace and abundance, or even a response to abuse or bullying. These are things that any young male can face but instead of channeling that into more productive pursuits or hobbies, the mall ninja gets into nonsense.

A few things helped drive the rise of this particular condition. The popularity of "traditional martial arts" or more importantly, the hype and mysticism surrounding them was a factor. The ninja craze and associated market certainly contributed. Novelty stores in the actual malls selling "gas station knives", "knife-like objects", and other paraphernalia were a factor. It dovetails with the related phenomena of Solider of Fortune wannabes, operators, and even stolen valor but at the end of the day, "mall ninja" can be a relatively wide umbrella. Notice that we continue to use the term long after the decline of both malls and the ninja craze.
 
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