Speaking Surfese

Dude! Surfing has taken on a language all its own, emerging from just being slang and jargon to becoming a universal way of talking, even transcending into common, non-surf, "straight" conversation. However, along the way some of the words and phrases have become dated and are now no longer part of the vernacular; they have transpired a full language circle to become, once again, meaningless. In fact, people who use these words accomplish only showing their advanced age and loss of Cool.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane of Surfer's Slang, and, like spaghetti, see what stuck to the wall and why. First a few rules about examining Surfese:

1) Words that already existed and kept the same meaning, only amplified, are exempt, such as "awesome." Even though surfers like to use this word to describe anything they like even just a little, awesome still means awesome.

2) We will not include drug references, like "da kine", for good weed. That's druggie talk, not surfer talk and anyone can get high, whether they surf or not.

3) The phrase has to be recognized across the globe for it to work as true Surfese. In other words, no obscure, insider, or clique slang.

Surfing became a cultural entity in the late fifties and early sixties, where a surfer could be identified by the clothes he wore and the way he talked. Even the car he drove could serve as an identifier. These cars were often real wooden paneled trucks and station wagons, and they were referred to as "woodies"; with that nickname, voila! surf slang was born. Today, "woodie" has taken on a second meeting that has nothing to do with paneled vehicles.

Another example had to do with surfer clothing. Everyone wore tight-fitting swimwear back then, but surfers changed to looser, more flexible trunks they called "baggies” for obvious reasons. That style and word has collectively survived for more than half a century and even glommed into the mainstream. A third example of spaghetti that stuck is “hanging ten” or “hanging five,” which is putting one or both feet over the front lip of your board. That phrase is still used and celebrated today.

However, some examples that did not stick is when someone trying to look like a surfer (a "poser" nowadays) was referred to as a "hodaddy.” Nobody has used that term for a long time - the spaghetti did not stick to the wall. It also did not stick with the idea of yelling out "Cowabonga!" when the surf is up; doing so would get you nowhere today. On the other hand, "bitchin" has made it into everyday conversation.

I believe that one of the most successful surf slang words to seep into the mainstream of modern language has been “gnarly,” which is a lot more clever than the word “awesome.” There are also some very humorous phrases out there, such as “rag dolled,” which is used to describe getting beat up by a wave; another old term for poser was “Barney,” as in Fred Flintstone’s sidekick, but that has been replaced by Dildude. The word “agro” for ticked off or aggressive has also entered the mainstream.

The point of analyzing Surfese is that while the surf culture has created its own language, surfing has grown up and become more accepted; therefore, it is now joined at the hip to the conventional world, and that co-joining is not always such a bad thing.