Surfing has a language all of it's own, though it's not necessary to know the "lingo" here's a selection of some of the more familiar british surf terms.
air - getting airborne with fins out of the water.
aerial - airborne manoeuvre with many varieties borrowed from snow & skateboarding.
amped - charged up - stoked - fired.
backdoor - to pull into a tube from behind the peak.
bail - to abandon a board - jump off - usually without regard to the boards future.
bashing - body surfing.
bodyboard - sometimes called belly or boogie board, short and wide board for riders who prefer to stay prone, great for aerial tricks!
boost - getting airborne off the lip.
brah - from bruddah, Hawaiian pidgin for brother.
bro - a buddy or friend.
bucket - helmet.
bump - a swell.
bumps - the build-up of wax on a surfboard deck.
carve - symmetrical, fluid turns.
cheater five - hanging five toes on the nose - keep your weight back on the board to maintain trim and speed, squat down and extend one foot forward.
clucked- afraid, intimidated by the wave.
crew - a group of surfers defined by break or area.
dogging - going backside in the pit.
drop - as in dropping from the crest of the wave to the pit.
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
dune - a big peaky wave.
falls - the pitching lip of the wave, geting sucked into this = going over the falls !
fan - a fan of spray off a turn.
fluff - throws a waterfall shoreward.
frigged - snaked, having a wave taken from you by a surfer paddling inside of you.
fully - with commitment and intensity.
full on - with commitment and intensity.
gash - very sharp turn.
gnarly - awesome and intimidating.
going off - a break under optimum conditions.
gouge - sharp, fast turn.
gremmies - grem or gremmie is short for gremlin - Sixties US term for young, possibly or probably mischievous surfer, pre-adolescent surfer.
green room - inside a full cover-up tube.
grommet - adolescent surfer.
gunned - undergunned or overgunned refers to the size of your board in relation to wave conditions.
hanging five - lonboarding expression for dangling five toes over the nose of the board whilst trimming along the face of the wave.
hiddie - from hideous, intense.
hoot - howling and yelping approval and encouragement to friends.
jag - retreat after getting worked.
joy - Aussie slang for stoked e.g. sick joy, joyous.
kook - a bad surfer or learner.
longboard - or malibu surfboard, over 8'6" in length, the classic board shape.
malibu - or longboard surfboard, over 8'6" in length, the classic board shape.
min-mal - a surfboard in between a shortboard and longboard or malibu surfboard usually between 7'6" and 8'6" in length with a wider nose.
nipped - nipples rubbed raw by board or wetsuit.
noodle - exhausted, overall condition or specific as in noodle arms.
pop - kickout.
pit - the hollowest portion of a breaking wave.
pitch - throw - angle of any run to rise.
pitted - being in the pit of the wave.
pearl - to go pearl diving, the nose of you board submerges and usually the wave pushes the rest of the board over the nose and you follow it !
pucker factor - the effect an intimidating wave has on ones ability to remain relaxed.
pumping - above average large swell.
quiver - a surfer's collection of boards, a board bag that holds several boards.
rip - to surf to the height of one's abilities or a strong under current.
room - inside a large barrel.
schlong - thick, long, old style single-fin surfboard.
squid-lips - unlikeable individual.
scab - a reef or rock.
scabbed - getting damaged by a reef or rock.
shortboard - as the name suggests a short surfboard.
shred - ability to execute rapid repeated turns - shortboard term.
sick - excellent, top notch - describing a surfer, stunt, manoeuvre or conditions.
sideslip - when your board stops tracking forwards and moves sideways.
slam - bounce off the lip as it begins to pitch.
slash - cutback.
snake - paddling around behind someone who is in position and stealing their wave. Effectively the snake is taking ownership of the wave by being the closest rider to the breaking portion of the wave.
stink-eye - hard, cold, menacing stare.
stoked - geared up, wound up, full of enthusiasm.
stylie - with good form - with grace.
surfer's knots - large bumps on the tops of feet and on knees caused by callusing where one continuously contacts a board.
stuffed - getting driven under the water by a wave coming down on you.
swish - a meek or fearful surfer.
thrashed - when a wave bashes you.
throwing tail - sliding the tail in a turn, breaking the grip of the fins.
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.
tube - the cylindrical or cone shaped hole created when the lip pitches out far and clean enough to create a space between the wave and the falls.
vertical - turn straight up the wave.
waffling - rapidly working the board back and forth.
wannabe - wan-na-be, someone who wants to be.
wax - paraffin + colour + scent + additives to make it apply at specific temperatures. Used on deck of boards for traction.
wipe out - a fall, particularly a spectacular fall.
worked - the action a wave plays on you. It feels like being in a large washing machine.
