This mini-glossary includes terms used to describe the culture, people and physical environment central to surfing, perfect for newcomers to the sport.
As surfing has grown in popularity, expanding from California to South Africa and beyond, surfers’ vernacular has also grown, from a few words of slang into a distinct and expansive language. Bits and pieces of surfer lingo have become common -- dude is now in the Oxford English Dictionary -- while many words and phrases sound completely foreign to non-wave riders.
Learning
a few key words and phrases is always a good idea for tourists
wanting to immerse themselves in a new culture – and this holds true for surfing
newbies. We compiled this mini-glossary -- which includes terms used to
describe the culture, people and physical environment central to surfing -- with
help from the following resources: Surfline, Riptionary, the
Riptionary book, Aloha Surf Guide, Australia’s Surfing
Coast
and Wavescape.
People and behaviour
brah (n) – a friend or buddy; surfspeak synonyms: bro, brosef, bru (in South Africa)
kook (n) – a novice or inexperienced surfer; sometimes used as a derogatory term
grommet (n) – Australian term for a young surfer; sometimes shortened to grom
stoked (adj) – excited, enthusiastic; surfspeak synonym: amped
aggro (adj) – aggressive or angry in behaviour
aita! (exclamation) – a South African greeting among surfers
aikona (exclamation) – an especially emphatic expression for “no” among South African surfers
shaka
(exclamation) – a Hawaiian expression asserting agreement or positivity; related
to the shaka hand gesture used as a greeting sign
bark the dog (v) – South African idiom meaning “to vomit”
Waves
swell (n) – surfable waves
ankle biters (n) – very small waves, not optimal for surfing
breaking (v) – when a wave moves from deep to shallow water, gets higher (and rounded, as its back moves faster than its front) and falls
barrel (n) – the hollow space inside a breaking wave; surfspeak synonyms: green room, tube
da kine (adj) – a Hawaiian term used to describe the best waves; da kine is also used in general Hawaiian slang as a placeholder for something whose name one cannot recall
gnarly (adj) – a term used to describe particularly intense or extreme waves
The sport
ripping (v) – surfing very well
wipeout (n) – the act of falling off one’s surfboard
eat it (v) – to fall off one’s surfboard
hang ten (v) – to hang all of one’s toes off the front of a surfboard while longboarding
closeout (n) – the condition when all parts of a wave break at once, “closing out” the surfer
drop-in (n) – the act of catching a wave that another surfer is already riding, essentially cutting that surfer off; used to describe poor surfing etiquette
bail; bail out (v) – to abandon one’s surfboard, often mid-wave
man in the grey suit (n) – a term used in Australia and South Africa for “shark”
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