TAIJI OR TAIJIQUAN

Taiji, Taijiquan, Tai Chi or Tai Chi Chuan, which is it? I have seen these terms spelled interchangeably.

Originally I came up with the URL taichi-daily for this website address and used it for many years. Even though taichi-daily got a decent amount of web traffic, the hyphen between Tai Chi and daily bothered me. So I decided to change it. A short web address without a hyphen is best.

I did some searching in a web browser and found that there were millions of websites results for the term Tai Chi. All the short URLs were used. I needed a good web address that was short and to the point. Creatively you try and discover other words that have the same meaning. Most of the early users of the web owned great web addresses like taichi and taichichuan. It is hard to compete for a spot on the first page of a search engine unless you have a great URL. Words like Taiji and Taijiquan were not my first choice, and I wasn't sure if Taiji truly meant Tai Chi. I did some research and viewed websites, books, Wikipedia, and other Tai Chi resources saying these words were acceptable choices. If high-level Tai Chi masters from China use these terms, it must be ok. combining the word taiji with another word was a way to compete for a good spot in a search engine. In my opinion, using Taiji and Taijiquan is a way for someone to get a higher rank in the search engine for their Tai Chi school or website URL.

I bought the URL taijidaily and used this web address for almost a year. One day, I found out about a town in Japan called Taiji where Fishermen needlessly slaughter dolphins. When I was young, there was a TV show called Flipper. The show was about a boy and his pet Dolphin. Flipper was the star of the show. Dolphins quickly became one of my favorite mammals. I did not want to be associated with the web address taijidaily. I thought people might think that taijidaily was associated with news from this town in Japan. Immediately I changed my website URL. I was lucky enough to get the web address taichidaily without the hyphen.

The other day I stumbled across a video online where a Tai Chi teacher said that websites using the words Taiji and Taijiquan referring to Tai Chi are doing the art a disservice. Most people search and only know the term, Tai Chi. People who only search Tai Chi are missing important information about the martial side of the art. Why not educate people to search for Tai Chi, Tai Chi Chuan, Taiji, and Taijiquan. All of these terms are valid terms in the age of the internet. When a person wants to learn about a topic they should learn to search many different terms.


 


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