I grew up spending
summers and “local summers” which starts in September, after all the
“bennies”
have officially stopped renting for the summer season, in Seaside Park, New
Jersey. Until
coming into a Linguistics class,
I had not given a thought to the possibility that I was speaking a
distinct
variation of English that is known as “surfer slang.” I knew that not everyone knew what
some of
the above terms were as well as things like “inside” or “outside” when
referring to a wave,
but I didn’t know that this was an extensive dialect of
English. In addition, I knew that some
dialects
had even stemmed from “surfer slang” such as “skate slang.” I mainly chose this dialect to examine
because
I wanted to know the origins of the terminology that corresponds to surfing, as
well as the
expansion of this form of communicating. In an interview with ABC News
(ABC News), Trevor Cralle,
discussed
how he was able to write a novel on his experiences being an
individual who is not only a native
California surfer, but someone who also has
a degree in cultural geography. When
asked to speak on
“surf slang”, Cralle stated: “Surfing is a sensation that
demands a special language to describe how it
feels.” He also went on to say that surfing is, “like
any language, its always evolving.” Cralle, being
a native of Santa Cruz, California understands the importance of being a local and knowing this form
of English so well. He expresses the idea that many users of "surfer slang" already are aware of, and
he shows that this dialect has had the ability to unite surfers worldwide.
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| (This picture depicts what is known as a "party wave." As you can see there are both men and women, of all races, united by the love of surfing and the language they share. Party Wave - Tahiti ) |
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"
(Surfer Lingo Explained). This quote solidifies
how widely spread not only surfing, but the vernacular that comes with it, has become. Being that
this quote came from the travel section of The British Broadcasting Company's website, it shows the
progression that surfing and its language have made. People originally practiced the sport of surfing
in mainly California and Hawaii, but it now is prevalent in places such as South Africa, parts of
Europe, Australia, Tahiti and more. All of these places hold contests for the World Surfing League,
which draw crowds of thousands of people. With the growth of the sport of surfing, the language has
grown readily as well reaching all corners of the world.
The origins of surf culture is a history, formed in combination of folklore stories, defined by the
older "heads" of the beaches around the world. Most saying, that surf and the language that came
with it began somewhere in California or Hawaii, but according to,:
'Stoked,' From 1960s Surfers to Sochi, surf culture began
with the United States Navy using words like ''stoked.'' They started using this word when referring
to ''stoking'' the furnace, and then it began to take shape, embodying the metaphor of the furnace
being fired up. The culture that the military men picked up in Hawaii became evident when they
returned to the states, typically California and at this point surf culture, and the slang to follow:
boomed.
