[ He pulls a face, but says: ] On Barrayar, we're taught self-defense from a young age. Even disreputable little such-and-suches like me have to learn. A very sophisticated system, too, as befits our angry little planet. We're taught to strike at the vulnerable point. Don't exhaust yourself flailing about - wait, watch, strike.

[ This is not entirely true. Truthfully, this is the system taught by Imperial Security, the spy agency that Byerly serves. The more mainstream Barrayaran self-defense system is burly, manly, and aggressive. But ImpSec focuses on lethality rather than masculinity. It's a system Byerly is much better at - he'd always get his arse kicked in the normal classes at the academy with the grappling and the punching and the like.

This all is perhaps not a good explanation of the point he's trying to make. ]