Blip, correction or bear market?

According to the strategists, a blip is less than -10%, a correction is between -10% and -20% and a bear market is more than -20%. So, does this mean the 7% decline on Wall Street is a blip, the 12% fall in Asia ex Japan is a correction and the 25% drop among emerging markets is a bear market? However neat this categorisation, it is not very helpful because it only tells us what has already happened. Categorising something as a bear market suggests prices may have a lot longer and a lot further to fall. What if the decline is already largely complete? If so, it would be foolish to sell at...