Eighties Surf Slang Explained
Picture this: A Hot Tub Time Machine scenario in which you are dropped in the Valley in 1984. Will you be able to communicate? Well now you will.

Remember the good old days, back when popular slang terms used in everyday conversation weren’t just acronyms of internet catchphrases? When the only time you’d say “LOL” out loud was only as you began to say the occupation ‘Lollipop Lady’ whilst discussing local wholesome hometown heroes? Me too, man. Me too. They say everything old becomes new again though, and with that in mind, I’m strongly hoping that 2019 is the year we see surf slang of the 80s and 90s make a return to the popular lexicon.

Even as a suburban kid whose closest connection to the world of surfing was being able to draw the Rusty and Quiksilver logos on my pencil case, I can vividly remember inserting the odd ‘rad’ and ‘bogus’ into everyday playground conversation during my primary school years, and since I’ve become an adult, I’ve actually stood up on a surfboard…. twice! So I guess what I’m saying is, I’m now fully qualified to delve into the definitions of the following glorious examples of 80s surf dialect that I insist we bring back this year.

Ready yourself, dude. Things are about to get epic.

#1
Radical

Wouldn’t it be a nice change this year to hear the word ‘radical’ only in its old 80s slang context of something that is incredibly awesome?
Surely a much more pleasant alternative to seeing it jammed in front of words like ‘leftists’, ‘Islam’ or ‘feminists’ by right wing shock jocks and newspaper columnists! Make the word radical even more radical by shortening it to ‘rad’. Did you know there’s a 1986 American film about BMX racing called ‘Rad’ and our very own Farnesy performed the theme song? Now that IS rad.

“awesome and impressive surfing”

#2
Kook

Here’s a word I learned from the epic 80s surfing cinematic tour de force ‘North Shore’ – and further grew to appreciate once I started following Kook Slams, the Instagram account dedicated to documenting
amazing ocean failures caught on camera. A ‘kook’ is an inexperienced surfer, someone who tries way too hard, or a just plain bad surfer.
Essentially someone who is utterly clueless. I feel as though the Australian accent is absolutely perfect to drawl “Ya kook!” at someone disdainfully so let’s hear more of it, huh?

#3
Gnarly

If something is ‘gnarly’, it means it’s somewhat hazardous or treacherous, or perhaps just a bit full on and hard to comprehend? Let’s turn to Academy Award winning actor Sean Penn to witness a perfectly executed delivery of the word ‘gnarly’ – here he is dropping it like a word bomb while playing the iconic lovable perpetually stoned surfer Spicoli in 1983’s Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

Penn was robbed of an Oscar for his performance as Jeff Spicoli tbh.

#4
Bitchin

If something is very good, it could be described as ‘bitchin’. While it was huge in the 80s, the word actually dates back to 1950s
California surf culture, and even gets a run (albeit spelled ‘bitchen’) in Frederick Kohner’s 1957 surf novel Gidget! Essentially, this is a truly vintage surf term that has already come back around into popularity once before. Get on board with its latest resurrection ASAP!

#5
Like

Less of like, a word with a defined meaning and like, more of an opportunity to take a moment to like, pause during conversations. The popularity of ‘like’ conversationally in the 80s amongst young surfers is a fine example of when the world of the waves overlapped perfectly with Valley Girl speak, another culturally important popular lexicon of the 80s that was immortalised by Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Unit in their 1982 top 40 hit song ‘Valley Girl’.

It really was a different time, wasn’t it?

#6
Tubular

Any wave that is tubular in shape makes for excellent surfing, which means if something is ‘tubular’ it is truly great – it’s basically a much more awkward way of saying something’s rad, ya know? You’ll definitely need some real chutzpah to attempt to pull off using ‘tubular’ as an adjective in modern conversation but I have faith in you.

#7
Bogus

While originally a word that meant something that was counterfeit or fake, by the time surfers grabbed a hold of it, it began to define anything that was bad, lame, or just plain messed up. It became super popular in the late 80s and eventually hit peak popularity when it was used in the title of the sequel of ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’, a delightful romp with death called ‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey’.

#8
Barney

Ah, we’ve really saved the best til last here! This is another term that found popularity after dominating the script of the aforementioned surf film ‘North Shore’, it means the same as ‘kook’ and is used constantly by the film’s beloved icon Turtle who defines it as, and I quote, “Uh, it’s like, uh, barn-o, barnyard. Like a haole to the max. A kook in and out of the water, yeah?” Apparently the word was invented by the real life North Shore kid who inspired the character of Turtle, a surfer named Brian King. FYI Brian is now a ‘master glasser’ and still preps boards at his headquarters on Oahu’s North Shore, thus proving beyond a doubt the man is not a Barney but rather, extremely rad even in middle age.

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