If the ASP world tour has inspired you to live in the land of surfing, you’ll need to learn the language! Surfers often speak their own, indigenous lingo, so if you’re learning to surf, you might as well immerse yourself in the verbiage, too. You don’t want to be baffled in the land of “dudes,” “brahs” or “bruddahs” and not understand what it means to be “in the soup.” “Drop into” some of the surf slang below:

Ace: To be alone or in a solitary state of mind; to go solo
Aggro: Aggravated and ticked off (often due to a breach in surfing etiquette)
Barney: A novice (less-skilled)
Brah: Derived from the Hawaiian ‘bruddah’ meaning a surf brother; a term of endearment used between surfing buddies, peers, or any friend in solidarity
Bitchin’: The surfing equivalent of ‘cool,’ ‘awesome,’ or ‘excellent’
Bogus: Describes something plain wrong, lame or disappointing
Brainfreeze: Describes the feeling in the cranium and sinus cavity immediately after submerging one’s head in very cold waters
Bruddah: Hawaiian word meaning ‘brother.’ Used interchangeably with “brah” between surfing buddies
Cut-back: Refers to a turn in which the surfer moves back towards the white water, increasing the amount of time a wave can be ridden before the surfer pulls out
Da Bomb: The best
Dropping in: Refers to ‘dropping in’ on a wave in front of someone who is already riding it, forcing them to abandon the wave. This is a serious breach of surfing etiquette – do NOT do this!
Dude: A cliché, but a word still used commonly amongst surfers; a person or fellow surfer
Gnarly: A word used to describe a particularly intense wave
Goofy Foot: Style of riding where the right foot is placed in front of the left foot on the board
Grommet: A young surfer
Hairy: Same as gnarly; a crazy wave
Howlee: A kook in and out of the water. Another derivation of the Hawaiian spelling, Haole
In the Soup: When a surfer is in the foam or whitewater after a wave has broken
Kick Out: To go over or through the back of wave in order to end a ride
Kook: Derogatory term for a novice
Melvin: Like a kook. An unskilled surfer who is a bit of a dweeb
Snaking: A term which refers to obstructing a surfer who has right of way on a wave (also a no-no)
Walking the nose: Walking forward on the board to the nose
Wipe-out: Word used to describe what happens when a surfer falls from his/her board whilst riding a wave