Surfer Slang
A dictionary of surfer slang compiled from various sources.
- 360
- A maneuver done wherein the board (and rider) spin 360 degrees on the face of the wave.
- Ace
- 1) To win, succeed, or be the best at. 2) To outdo somebody by outmaneuvering or outsmarting them. He aced me out of the wave.
- Aerial
- Part of a maneuver where the surfer and his/her board leaves the water. This maneuver requires split second timing and is only performed by expert surfers.
- Aggro
- Originally from the term, Aggro-Aussie, because Australian surfers were known to be some of the most aggressive. To be extremely aggressive and outgoing in the water.
- Air
- The result of a good boost. Getting airborne.
- Air section
- A part of the wave that is conducive to launching airs on.
- Alva
- After Tony Alva, one of the original and most radical of the legendary and infamous "Dogtown" skateboard team. To be alva means to be radical and innovative with little regards for conventional standards of safety, morality and status quo.
- Amped
- To be energized, excited and full of life.
- Axe
- To get creamed by a wave or anything else. If you have been axed, you have been fully done in. I got totally axed at Pipe!
- Babelicious
- Very attractive individual.
- Backside/frontside
- If you are working the shoulder of a wave and your back is to the wave: It's backside. If your front is to the wave: Frontside.
- Backwash
- This is what happens when the tides are changing, sort of "colliding" with the outgoing tide; it sometimes creates a very interesting plume of water that shoots up into the air.
- Bag
- 1) To leave, split the scene, bail out. 2) Your bag is your trip, your scene, your modus operandi. It's whatever turns you on.
- Bail
- To jump off the board in an attempt to escape a wave that's closing out or for other, hopefully good reason to jump/dive off.
- Bake
- A closeout
- Barrel or barrelled
- Tubed.
- Bashing
- Body surfing
- Beach breaks
- Wave is formed over sand and sand bars, can shift seasonally and from storm to storm
- Benny
- Tanless tourist on beach
- Bent
- 1) To be enraged, as in bent out of shape or really pissed off! 2) To be bent is to be slightly off, a little crazy, mental. 3. Really loaded, screwed up and wasted.
- Bitchin
- This is a classic beach word that dates all the way back to the 'beach blanket bingo' days. Bitchin means cool, righteous, out-of-sight, happening. If something is really bad, it's bitchin.
- Bodybasher
- Bodysurfer
- Bodyrocket
- Bodysurfer
- Bohdacious
- Extremely good and/or great.
- Booga-booga
- Big dangerous locals
- Boondocks
- Also booneys. Anyplace that is out in the middle of nowhere
- Bottom
- Referring to the ocean floor or to the lowest part of the wave the surfer can ride on the bottom of the wave.
- Bowl
- A shallow spot in the path of the wave, causing the wave to break a little harder.
- Box
- 1) The slot for a removable fin on the bottom of surfboards, also known as a fin box. 2) A gnarly surf spot in the boondocks of South Australia
- Bro
- A buddy or friend
- Bucket
- Helmet
- Bumbye
- Later on, in awhile
- Bump
- A swell
- Bumps
- The build-up of wax on a surfboard deck.
- Bumpy
- Choppy water or it could be a decent wave but still the face could be bumpy.
- Cag
- To choke, fail, not be able to handle
- Calabash
- Someone who is very close, but not blood related
- Caught inside
- Having great trouble in paddling back out because the incoming waves are too big, powerful, difficult or impossible to get beyond.
- Channel
- A channel of deeper water where excess water, piled up by waves, flows out to sea
- Choice
- The best
- Choke
- To balk, falter and not be able to continue, chicken out
- Choppy
- Very small waves on the surface created by local winds.
- Clucked
- Afraid, intimidated by the wave
- Clean-up wave
- A wave that breaks outside of the line-up and dumps on the entire line-up.
- Close out
- When waves break all the way across a bay or normally safe channel rendering a surf spot unridable (because surfers can't paddle-out to the line-up.)
- Cnoid waves
- As waves come in to shallow water their shape changes to something called a 'cnoid' which has a short, steep crest and a long shallow trough those are what we see as lines of corduroy.
- Covered
- Same as "toobed."
- Crab
- Term used to describe bad surfing style, for all kinds of surfcraft. Also Truck Driver, Humper or Poo man.(Australia)
- Crew
- A group of surfers defined by break or area
- Cripple
- Meaning Knee boarder.
- Crippler
- Something that is really good. That chick is crippler!
- Cut-back
- A 180 degree turn that's done on either of the two rails of the surfboard. Turn back toward the curl or breaking part of a wave.
- Cut off
- Being dropped in on is the same as being cut off. Such a person could also be a "Shoulder Hopper".
- Cut out
- Same as pull-out or kick-out.
- Da Kine
- Hawaiian style talk: The best kind of wave, as in, "I jus caught da kine wave, brah."
- Dawn Patrol
- Early morning quest for surf.
- Dawnie
- Dawn patrol (Ireland)
- Deak Sesh
- Short for deak session. Means to avoid contact with gremmies for a prolonged period of time. Example: "Hey Brah! Croig was bein' a geek so I had to pull a major deak sesh on him!"
- The Death
- New Zealand, means "the biggest", "the most extreme", a good thing
- Dick dragger
- Meaning Bodyboarder.
- Dirt, dirty
- New Zealand, means "high quality", ie. Dirt weed
- Dogging
- Going backside in the pit.
- Drop
- As in dropping from the crest of the wave to the pit
- Drop-knee
- One foot on the bodyboard, with the other hanging off the back. Difficult and fun.
- Dropping in
- Catching a wave that is already occupied ... taking off on the shoulder while someone is taking off deeper
- Drop in late
- Catching the steepest part of a wave
- Duck dive
- The skill of diving under a breaking wave as you paddle out with the board.
- Dude
- Comrade/ friend and/or name for unknown individuals.
- Dune
- A big peaky wave
- Durry
- Australian surf word, which means cigarette.
- Earwax
- The guy who gets the longest "tube ride".
- Eat it
- Wipe out really bad on a wave
- Elevator drop
- A late drop-in results in this sensation.
- Eighty-sixed
- Cked out
- El rollo
- This is a surf maneuver which until only recently was only done by boogie boardersIt consists of going off the lip and doing a complete somersault with the lip as it drives you back down into the trough. Finishing is the hard part.
- Face-of-the-wave
- The front part of the wave. One rides on the face of the wave.
- Falls
- The pitching lip of the wave, don't get sucked into this
- Fan
- A fan of spray off a turn such as a water skier throws
- Fetch
- Determines the size of a wave. wind speed X time X distance
- Filth or filthy
- Means cool, righteous, out-of-sight, happening, hot, bitchin. The surf out there is Filth or That chick looks Filthy
- Floater
- Where the surfer rides his board loosely along the top of the breaking up or foam of the wave.
- Fluff
- Spray off the lip
- Four fin
- A four finned surfboard.
- Frequency downshifting
- The increase of wave period within a fetch .... a decrease in frequency is an increase in period.
- Frigged
- Snaked.
- Full on
- Means you're really into something, I was full on surfing.
- Gash
- Very sharp turn
- Gell
- To vegetate, doing nothing.
- Glass axe
- Lip
- Glass-off
- A calm period in the early evening [generally] when the sea becomes smooth ["as glass"] and surf is good.
- Gnarly
- Dangerous, rough, out of control, huge, good, bad or ugly.
- Going off
- To perform at the limit of one's personal perimeters.
- Goofy-foot
- Rider who surfs with right foot as lead foot.
- Gouge
- To turn the board sharply and dramatically, at full speed.
- Green room
- The tube
- Gremmies
- Pre-adolescent surfer
- Grommet
- Adolescent surfer grom. From grommet. A young surfer.
- Gun
- A board designed for larger waves.
- Gunned
- Undergunned or overgunned refers to the size of your board in relation to wave conditions
- Hang ten
- All ten toes on the nose. Gotta be on a log to do this one.
- Held under or held down
- Being held underwater by heavy surf.
- Hemo-ed
- When something has been hemo-ed, it's been smashed, creamed, smeared and otherwise totalled.
- Hiddie
- Derivative of 'hideous', used to describe a particularly intense situation, maneuver, wave or boyfriend/girlfriend. Intense.
- Hodad
- A name surfers call a guy that they don't like or is mean to them.
- Hollow
- Extremely concave curling wave (a good thing!)
- Hoot
- Howling and yelping approval and encouragement to buddies
- Impact zone
- the point where the waves break for the first time
- Inside
- where waves continue to break, reform, and break again if it's big enough
- Jag
- retreat after getting worked
- Jungle
- Certain parts of Waikiki are known as the jungle because of all the crime and wild animals there.
- Kick out
- To exit a wave. A kick Out is a controlled maneuver.
- Killer
- Oarsome, Sick, He rode that killer wave to the shore.
- Kook
- A completely ackward or bad surfer. Highly derogatory.
- Kotch
- South African slang, means to vomit
- Landshark
- Guys who don't surf, but say they do.
- Line-up
- just beyond the impact zone where you wait to catch waves
- Lip
- curling lip at the top of a wave
- Log
- Longboard, nine feet and longer.
- Lybation
- refreshing beverage.
- Make a wave
- To go for a wave and "make it" as opposed to getting tossed off your board and pounded by the wave.
- Mal
- Gross
- Merv
- Short for Mervin. A merv is just your typical run of the mill idiot.
- Mokes
- Local tough guys in Hawaii.
- Momboosa
- Monstrous, gargantuan, huge, massive.
- Mondo
- Something that is mondo is the same size as something that is momboosaloid.
- Murph
- This word is in honor of the legendary "Murph the Surf." Means a typical surfer
- Nector
- beautiful awesome
- Negatory
- means no.
- Nipped
- nipples rubbed raw by board or suit
- Noodle
- exhausted, overall condition or specific as in noodle armed
- Outside
- offshore, beyond where the waves break
- Over the falls
- losing control such that you get thrown by the lip of the wave.
- Overhead
- Just that, when waves exceed head high. Classic term of exaggeration: "Double Overhead".
- Pearl
- to go pearl diving, the nose of you board submerges and usually the wave pushes the rest of the board over the nose, you too
- Period
- time between waves. wind swell less than about 10 seconds /approx/ 12 seconds and longer is ground swell (the energy / power of a wave is proportional not only to its height but its period.)
- Pit
- the hollowest portion of a breaking wave
- Pitched
- Tossed of the lip of the wave and usually off the board.
- Pitted
- being in the pit of the wave
- Point breaks
- wave forms in reaction to the land form, consistent
- Pop
- kickout
- Prone
- Ride with your belly on the board. The most common and easiest way to ride a bodyboard.
- Pucker factor
- the effect an intimidating wave has on ones ability to remain relaxed
- Puff
- a spitting wave.
- Purplified
- This means you have gotten so sunburned that you aren't just pink, or even red, you are
- Puss
- New Zealand slang, means small windblown whitewater purple.
- Queeb
- Short for queebie. These are beach queens who think they are god's gift to everybody.
- Quiver
- a surfer's collection of boards, a board bag that holds several boards
- Rad
- radical, out of the ordinary
- Rails
- Side edges of a surfboard.
- Re-entry
- Attacking the lip, usually going vertically and then turning nose down and re-entering the wave.
- Reef breaks
- wave is formed over an underwater reef or rock, consistent
- Rickt
- deriving from "Richters" deriving from "Off the Richter Scale" meaning that something is awesome / cool / da bomb / etc...
- Rinse cycle
- the broken wave, ie "caught in the rinse cycle"
- Rip
- to surf to the height of one's abilities. To shred, lacerate and dominate.
- Ripping
- Executing drastic and radical moves on the wave. Having it your way with a wave.
- River mouth breaks
- wave forms on the sediments deposited at the river mouth, similar to beach breaks but sometimes more susceptible to change
- Room
- inside a large barrel.
- S-turn
- In surfing, s-turns are like enlarged squiggles.
- Scab
- a reef or rock
- Schlock
- insult A schlock is like a nerd, kook, lame-o, geek, idiot
- Schlong
- thick, long, old style single-fin surfboard
- Shibby
- Awsome, Rad, Totally
- Short Board
- About six feet long or less.
- Shore break
- Waves break very close to the beach.
- Shnarf
- To overstep one's boundaries
- Scabbed
- getting damaged by a reef or rock
- Scratching
- desperately trying to paddle over a set or a wave to avoid being "Caught Inside" on "Dumped On".
- Set
- a group of larger waves that come in periodically.
- Shacked
- to be covered up completely by the falling crest of a very steep wave.
- Shore-dump / soup / slop
- unorganised sloppy foam, no good for nothing
- Shorey
- Shorebreak, where the bodyboarders usually excel.
- Shralp
- Another surfing word that describes ripping, tearing and hot-dogging all over the waves.
- Shred
- To shred is the same as to shralp.
- Shrouding
- Ripping, shredding, shralping.
- Sick
- meaning especially radical or dramatic, can pertain to either wave or performer ("That was the sickest pit I ever saw!" or "She pulled off the sickest cutback I ever saw!").
- Side-slip
- Surfing manuever, intentional or otherwise, in which the board loses traction and slips sideways down the face of the wave.
- Slide out
- Unlike the slide slip, a slide out is never intentional. If you slide out, you fall off your board.
- Sine waves
- in deep water swells are very well-approximated by pure sine waves.
- Slaps
- Japanese slippers or zoris. If you need slaps, it means you need a couple of slaps to the head to knock some sense into you.
- Slash
- cutback.
- Snaking
- going around behind another surfer to take off deeper
- Soup
- the whitwashy water that is located in the impact zone, frothy and full of bubbles. The "Soup" makes it difficult to paddle out of the "Banger Zone". (Australia)
- Sponge
- Bodyboard. Called sponge because its core is made of a sponge like material. Your bodyboard
- Sponger
- Somebody that bodyboards.
- Squid
- dislikeable individual. Little squids are surfer guys that get in your way when you are surfing.
- Squiggle
- Surf manuever in small wave contests, also known as the butt wiggle. The squiggle is done by oscillating your board back and forth while maintaining the same forward track.
- Standup surfing
- To stand up on the board and ride. Only a hand-full of bodyboarders are doing this one and all from Hawaii at last count.
- Stick
- Your board.
- Stink-eye
- hard, cold, menacing stare
- Stoked
- geared up, wound up, full of enthusiasm
- Stuffed
- getting driven under the water by a wave coming down on you
- Surfer's knots
- large bumps on the tops of feet and on knees caused by callusing where one continuously contacts a board
- Surfz up!
- Waves are breaking and surfable. I'm outta here!
- Swell
- a condition of waves. "There's a good sized swell due next week." or "There's NO swell; it's flat."
- Swish
- a meek or fearful surfer
- Switch-stance
- Being able to go from "Goofy" to "Normal"/"Regular" footed with ease and vica versa. "Goofy" footed is similiar to being left-handed. You lead with your left foot.
- Tailslide
- Part of a larger maneuver in which the surfer purposely makes his/her fins lose their grip and the board slides.
- Take-off point
- The best spot to be in the line-up to catch the best part of a breaking wave.
- Tank or tanker or Log
- A longboard or a very large board.
- Terrorize
- If a surfer is dominating a particular surf spot and ripping it to shreds, he is said to be terrorizing.
- Throwing tail
- to execute a turn so radically that the tail, or rear, portion of the surfboard breaks loose from the water's surface and begins to slide.
- Throw a fan
- to erect a rooster-tail fan of spray as the result of a particularly dramatic turn.
- Thruster
- The three finned or tri-fin surfboard
- T.O.A.D.
- Take Off And Die!
- Toes-on-the-nose
- Riding a wave with one's toes curled around the nose of the board.
- Toobed!
- Riding inside the "tube." In the green room.
- Top turn
- Similar to the re-entry but the approach is less vertical and usually performed to gain speed.
- Totally
- to emphasize something; for example...that lybation looks totally bohdacious.
- Tow-ins
- getting towed into waves that are too large to paddle into
- Trim
- adjusting your position on a board so that it planes, and achieves its maximum speed
- Troll
- Generally known as a surf troll. Surfers with no money who live in cars, shacks, etc..
- Trough
- The bottom part of a wave where it joins with the normal sea level, opposite of the crest.
- Tube
- When the crest falls over the hollow barrel, it forms a pipe shaped wave.
- Tube ride:
- the act of driving to the beach.
- Waffling
- rapidly working the board back and forth
- Way
- Very much so. This place is way cool!
- Wind swells
- waves formed close to the shore by local wind conditions, unorganised, tendency to be slop
- Woofy
- a little brown floating friend, in other words a turd.
- Worked, getting
- the action a wave plays on you. It feels like being in a large washing machine.
- Yeah now
- Yeah now means good job and congratulations.
- YEP!
- meaning yes. A taditional Australian warning for "Look inside you. I am already taking off". 2 people are paddling, and person who is deepest uses "YEP!" to call the other guy off. (Australia)
- Za
- pizza
- The ZONE
- This is the place where there is no escape from the wrath of the on-coming wave.. You are caught inside, too far in to catch the wave, and the wave is breaking to far out for you to paddle outside The Zone. You get pounded in the zone.
