SKATING SLANG summary
Jerry Dunn
Many of you were nice enough to send me skating slang for my book, to be
called "Idiom Savant: Slang As It Is Slung" (Fall 1995, Simon &
Schuster). Here's the summary I said I'd post.
No doubt I've made errors, especially in usage. Maybe you can add example
sentences to some definitions, to show how the terms are properly used.
Please send any corrections, additions, or examples to me by e-mail:
jer...@rain.org.
Thanks so much again! You're a very helpful, fun group of people.
Cheers,
Jerry Dunn
The summary (divided into ice skating and inline skating):
ICE SKATING:
be chacked v. for a skater whom everyone knows is skating at a particular
competition to be inexplicably cut from the TV coverage of the event,
except for possibly a cameo appearance while someone else is warming up,
leaving the ice, etc.
doughnut-on-a-stick spin n. trick performed by Oksana Bayul.
flutz n. a screwed-up lutz jump that turns into a flip at the last moment.
Midori Ito n. a jump landed too close to the boards, resulting in a crash
into the boards or camera pits.
Nasty Tango n. Canasta Tango, dance performed on skates. Rel. Fiasco
Tango: Fiesta Tango.
nosebleed seats n. spectators' seats located very high up in an arena.
oksana n. someone who comes out of nowhere to win a major event on
his/her first try.
pretzel people n. skaters with unusual flexibility, particularly
Mishkutenok and Dmitriev.
sidewinders n. skaters who work their way around the rink doing mostly
sideways footwork.
"Skate God for Life" n. title originated by Scott Hamilton and made
popular by Kurt Browning.
waxel n. a crash-landed axel.
woetzel n. an unintentional face-dive onto the ice. Also, a chin scar
resulting from such a fall. v. to take such a fall.
wylie n. a totally unexpected triumph at the best possible time. v. to
have such an accomplishment. Rel. manley: the female equivalent of a
wylie.
INLINE SKATING:
air Kedidi n. when you jump into the air with feet flailing, usually just
before a big fall. Named for a skater.
bacon-in-the-pan n. when you wipe out badly on a ramp and slide back down
to the bottom.
black snake n. tar lines on the street.
bumping n. skating down stairs; can be done forwards, backwards, even
sideways. Syn. bashing.
cab n. a backwards 360. Syn fakie 360.
chunk v. to damage your wheels so they have pits or missing pieces. "I
chunked my tires."
fakie adj. prefix used for any trick done backwards. Example: fakie 360.
grinding n. jumping up onto a curb and sliding across it on your skates.
home run n. a fall while grinding in which both feet slide out from under
you, as if you were sliding into home plate.
layed out adj. prefix for tricks done with the body fully extended. "A
layed out backflip is not recommended!"
McTwist n. a ramp trick in which you become upside-down, do a 540, and
land back on the ramp.
180 n. 180-degree jump; i.e., half a revolution. Rel. 360, 540, 720, 900.
rail slide n. sliding on your skates down a handrail.
rewind n. a 180 performed off a handrail while sliding and rolling backwards.
road rash n. any wound associated with unintentional momentum reduction
induced by contact with pavement.
rocket air n. jump made on a ramp while holding on to your skates. Rel.
Japan air, method air, mute air.
scitz v. to hold on to a moving automobile to get a free ride across part
of town or up a hill. "I scitzed a ride on a Mercedes this morning."
soul grind n. a grind in which the back foot slides along the sole and
the front foot is perpendicular to the curb.
stall n. when you jump up on an object, hold still for a couple of
seconds, and then jump off.
Superman slide n. a forward-facing slide done on your protected hands and
toe wheels.
tires n. skate wheels.
tweakie adj. prefix for tricks done with the body tucked. Syn. tweaked
out. "That was a tweaked out back flip."
--
Jerry Dunn
jer...@rain.org
albert boulanger
This is a roller skating term. I have not seen it in the context of
ice skating:
sidewinders n. skaters who work their way around the rink doing mostly
sideways footwork.
Regards,
Albert Boulanger
aboul...@ldeo.columbia.edu