karate kid

A martial artist boy who beats up his bullies.

Inspired by the 1984 American martial arts drama film of the same name, this word started out as a word referring to bullied straight male kids who became highly skilled karatekas and stood up to their bullies to the point of successfully beating up their bullies.

Overtime, the word lost its original meaning and just became a byword for any type of bullied straight male kid who learned any type of martial art or combat sport and became a brave highly skilled martial artist that fiercely stands up to bullies and jerks. The martial art that he learned doesn't have to be Karate. It can be Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Judo, Kali, Kung Fu, Wushu, Wing Chun, Hung Ga, Jiu-Jitsu, or even Western fighting systems such as Boxing, Freestyle Wrestling, Sambo, HEMA, Luta Livre, Krav Maga, etc.

Example 1:

Blogger title in his news artilce: Real-life karate kid! Video shows little boy skilled in Muay Thai beating up his bully who is bigger than him!

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Example 2:

Gerald: I can't believe it. Back then, Stephen used to be an insecure shy socially-awkward eccentric introverted kid who is constantly picked on by jerks at his school but now, he is a strong confident young man who doesn't let anyone cross him. He beat up all of his bullies.

Mark: Yeah! What did you expect?! The little guy is highly skilled at Taekwondo, Boxing, and Sambo!

Gerald: Yeah! He's a real-life karate kid!

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