Sometimes you need to get someone’s attention immediately. If you have a partner, you can utilize pre-arranged signals (like clicking your tongue, or saying a codeword), but in the absence of such an arrangement, one must be prepared to deliver what amounts to a "verbal slap" in order to attain the desired results.

The "verbal slap," or "shockword," is delivered in a tone and manner completely different from your normal speaking voice. It can be a bark, a growl, or simply a flat robotic statement — but it must be enough of a surprise to compel the person being addressed to suddenly give you their undivided attention. If you were to simply state, in your normal speaking voice, "I think we have a serious problem," it would be far too easy to either "tune you out," or fail to take you seriously. If, however, you were to interrupt a conversation with, "Shut up — problem ahead," that would be sure to make an impression!

When there is an impending crisis, one can seldom afford to mince words by being polite. If there is a potential risk of actual physical danger, you may even need to hurt someone’s feelings in order to get them to do what needs doing. For example, one day many years ago, myself and my fiancé were driving through the city when I narrowly avoided sideswiping a truck which was weaving precariously, as if the driver was drunk. After this close call, the truck began to follow us through a series of turns, until I was positive that we were being tailed. I did not have a gun in the car, and the only weapons available were a ballpeen hammer and a can of wasp & hornet spray (which could fire a high pressure stream up to 30 feet away, for the purpose of saturating nests). Because I didn’t know how many people were in the truck, or if they were armed, I figured that the spray might come in handy — except that it was on the other side of the passenger seat.

"This truck’s following us — shake up the goblin repellant and hand it over."

"What? You don’t need that! I think. . ."

"Do what I say, bitch!" She immediately grabbed the can, shook it up, popped the cap off, and handed it over. I stuck it between my legs and pulled into the parking lot of the store we’d been heading towards, rolling down my window as I did so. Sure enough, the truck pulled in behind us, blocking us in (although I could’ve hopped the curb and driven through some shrubbery to escape, if it became necessary). I removed my seatbelt and held the can out of sight, my thumb on the button.

The guy jumped out of his truck, slammed the door, and started stomping over to me. As he noticed me watching him in the rear-view mirror, he began to slow down. I raised the can a bit, so it was just below the open window, and stared at him, visualizing crosshairs right between his eyes. He was a lanky fellow with two days worth of stubble, wearing greasy overalls with a baseball cap and swaying a little. He looked at me staring at him (with my hand out of sight) for a few moments, before giving some lame excuse that he was lost and needed directions. After I told him that I couldn’t help him (I could barely understand him), he hopped back in his truck and left.

My fiancé was surprised, because she didn’t believe that we were actually being followed, and didn’t realize how close I’d almost come to burning some idiot’s eyes out of his skull with what amounted to dilute nerve gas — but she wasn’t mad. I had never spoken to her harshly before, and very seldom used profanity, so the combination of the two snapped her out of her complacency and enabled her to follow my instructions without question (and she’s someone who does not like to be "told what to do"). Luckily, everything went well, and I avoided being arrested and getting my name on the front page, but if he’d jumped out of that truck swinging a tire iron things would’ve been different.

Words delivered with force have the power to shock and stun, much like a veteran martial artist’s kiai can cause a less experienced opponent to momentarily freeze. Being able to shock a person out of a complacent (or hysterical) state can enable you to issue clear, concise instructions which will (most likely) be followed to the letter. In a crisis, many people would be thankful for a competent person to tell them what to do, as they might be too upset to deal with things properly otherwise.