Tasty Waves and Tubular Talk

        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.  

(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 )

        This picture shows an example of what's known as a "party wave."  "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"  

(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.