The definition of surfing
Neal Miyake
I usually don't argue about surfing vs bodyboarding issues because they
more often than not fall upon deaf ears. However, I know that Surff is a
reasonable fellow, willing to listen to another person's opinion. I don't
mean to offend; hope it doesn't sound that way. I just want to express my
sentiment.
>However, the statement, "bodyboarding is surfing", is not in agreement
>with English dictionary definitions of surfing.
It doesn't matter.
>It is also like saying that rollerblading is rollerskating, sking is
>snowboarding, or skateboarding is surfskating. I can surfskate, but I
>can't pop around like a flea on a skateboard. One can't say these things
>are the same simply because they use the same playing field.
Just because inline skating, snowboarding or surfskating aren't in the
dictionary, doesn't necessarily exclude them from their respective
crossover sports.
>According to "The American Heritage Dictionary" New College Edition:
>Surfing:(noun) A sport in which one paddles a surfboard out into the surf
>and, standing on the board, attempts to ride on or with a wave into shore.
>According to the World Book Dictionary:
>Surfing: (noun) 1. the act of riding a surfboard; surfboarding...
That's just semantics.
My definition of surfing is the act of riding waves.
For the record, my dictionary (Webster's New World, Third College Ed)
defines surfing as: the sport of riding in toward shore on the crest of a
wave, esp. on a surfboard.
Don't dolphins and catamarans surf waves also?
>Surfboard (noun) 1. a long, narrow board on which to be carried on the
>crest of a wave as it mounts and breaks as surf on a beach.
>It then has a picture below it of a guy surfing. I won't use the phrase
>"stand up surfing", since we are getting the basic terms defined. :-)
Is it a longboard or shortboard? Should only longboarding be considered
surfing? Maybe I should submit them a photo of a bodyboarder and his
board. :)
>A dictionary will define a word according to the agreed upon viewpoint of
>the majority of the population. Try saying to 99.9% of the population that
>you are going surfing, and they will form a mental image picture of
>someone standing on a board and riding a wave.
I agree. But that doesn't necessarily make it right. What if I stand on
my bodyboard? Now we are really getting complicated.
The problem with taking a dictionary term is that our language is so
dynamic. Meanings and spellings continue to evolve, to accomodate changes
in society.
The term bodyboard is relatively new (early 80s), but doesn't exist in any
dictionaries I know of. Heck, people still call it a boogieboard (trade
name that Morey has long since abandoned).
>I realize that within the surfing culture there may be some that use the
>definition as given by Will. However, if one is to use a certain language,
>the source of it's definiton of words is the dictionary of that
language.
I disagree. If three dictionaries give three somewhat different meanings,
who is to say which one is right?
Why don't we all go surfing and talk about it in the lineup. I'll bring
my bodyboard and you can ride your surfboard. :)
sponge
SurffOhio
>Foondoggy wrote:
>Maybe by your erudite definition
Hang on Foon. Gotta get a dictionary for erudite. :-)
>of what I do, it is not surfing. I did
>surf,(stand up by your definition), for 30 years, and can tell you
honestly I still
>get the same kick, stoke, thrill or whatever you'd like to call it, when
I
>body board. It concerns me little that a vast majority of those on this
>news group consider bobyboarders "surfing wannabes".I'm absolutely
certain
>if a census of body boarders vs stand up surfers were taken, body
boarders
>would outnumber stand up surfers by a wide margin. Not that I take that
to mean what
>we do is a more serious or pure form of waveriding. It is just the most
>popular.
Foondoggy, I am aghast. I feel as though I have lost part of myself. Where
have I gone wrong? I have gone into the enemy camp of VMLXD, set the tents
ablaze, and written "Live on Foondoggy" on any remaining stucture. And
this is my reward? You thinking that I am degrading you for bodyboarding?
Alas, I sit and watch, as tears go by.
Senators of Rome, throw me to the barbarians. I have failed my comrades,
and must atone for my unworthiness.
If you want to compare the two activities regarding their "status" , this
census is not a good way to do it. In this society all the power is at the
top. Less than 10% of the population have got %90 of the money. In art and
the ability to create, the percentage is even wider. When's the last time
anyone saw another Rembrandt hanging out in Greenwich Village? Who has
come close to Jimi Hendrix in the last 30 some years? Stevie Ray Vaughn?
And now he isn't even here anymore. It could lead one to believe that
there are a lot more body boarders than surfers, due to it being an easier
sport to master.
Foondoggy, you are equating my post with a few other's feelings about body
boarders. I thought I made it clear, that degradation of other forms of
wave riding was not on my agenda.
I was simply going for a definition of terms. As far as I am concerned,
the dictionary could define bodyboarding as a more intense and spiritual
way of riding a wave. I would just like to have, shall we say, "standards"
in our communication.
As I said, surfing with body boarders is fine with me. And it's not a
condescending viewpoint. If someone is having fun, I like to join in.
>So for many who see me in my baseball cap on my big black body board
charging
>down as many waves as my old body can catch, I may just be farking around
>wanting to be a real "surfer". But having been, by your definition, one
for
>many years, I can tell you, I don't have any less fun.
I have always wanted to see you in this cap with the big black body board.
If you will recall, I have posted this in the past. As to having fun, this
was part of my post
As follows:
"I have taken friends with me to
Florida, and they just played in the shore break while I surfed. But, they
were having the time of their lives, and this made me feel good. As a
matter of fact, I rented my friend a body board last weekend while we in
Florida."
Are you sure you read my post? :-)
>Besides, I have a place at the beach and though it's only a funky little
>beachbreak, I've seen more good surf in one season than you've probably
seen
>in five. Nanny Nanny boo boo!
This truly hurts my soul. This presumptuous statement is a rock on which I
have smashed my keel of communication.
And, that was being a little stinky. Don't you think? Poor old surf. The
guy that defended you from VMLXD, the guy that suggested we all go to
Foondoggy's for a surf session, the guy that included you in his science
fiction story, and the guy that get's excited and emails you about
tropical storms.
You see what this surfing/body board thing does? Causes good relationships
to vanish in the dust.
I feel karma being drained from my soul. Oh, woe is me. I am melting
For sure, Foondoggy, I hope to see you at our house in Florida someday. We
have a house across the street from a break that is on the Florida surf
map. But, what good is it if you don't have friends there sharing the
experience?
I would love to see you come ambling up with your surf or die hat on,
carrying your big black gun body board.
Surff
SHANE PIKE
I really think that Bodyboarding, stand up, goat boating etc are all forms
of surfing. It really doesn't matter about formal definitions does it??
Bonzer
A surfer is a surfer is a surfer. I don't care how you do it,
where you do it, on what you do it. If you surf . . . you surf.
The rest just doesn't matter.
--
See you out there, (surfing the stand up way)
Bonzer - http://sd.znet.com/~dew
-----the best surfer (or should that be "wave rider"?) is the one having
the most fun-----
Tauras
SHANE PIKE wrote:
>
> I really think that Bodyboarding, stand up, goat boating etc are all forms
> of surfing. It really doesn't matter about formal definitions does it??
>
> On 23 Oct 1996, Neal Miyake wrote:
They should have another name for stand-up bodyboarding, surfing doesn't
do it justice! Its beyond the talent of most "surfers".
just my $0.02 worth.
--
Tauras Sulaitis Current Project: Toobs Inc.
USTA Design Inc. surf...@callamer.com
tau...@lietuva.com http://www.callamer.com/~surftime/
West Coast Sty http://www.slonet.org/~tsulaiti/
East Coast Sty http://www.minds-online.com/sty/
***Warning*** Personal Site with opinions!
Fred
Tauras wrote:
>
> They should have another name for stand-up bodyboarding, surfing doesn't
> do it justice! Its beyond the talent of most "surfers".
A picture is worth a thousand words!
http://www.OnlineBusiness.com/TubeTime/pics/AnimChrisWon.gif
I doubt it is beyond the talent, but I many times think of what a shame
it is that many surfers won't be caught dead on a bodyboard because they
are afraid of what people might think. I hope someday to be good on
every wave-riding vehicle, and doubt i will ever totally give up riding
a bodyboard when I see tubes that just aren't ridable with anything
else. In fact, I still bodysurf because sometimes that is simply the
best way to ride a given wave.
ARf!
the pup(Fred)
http://www.OnlineBusiness.com/TubeTime/
Fred
SurffOhio wrote:
> I was simply going for a definition of terms. As far as I am concerned,
> the dictionary could define bodyboarding as a more intense and spiritual
> way of riding a wave. I would just like to have, shall we say, "standards"
> in our communication.
Language is a tricky thing, to say the least...
- Yesterday I went surfing on my bodyboard. Today I went bodysurfing. I
"dropped in" and got a real nice little barrel, but on the next wave I
"dropped in" and ruined someone elses wave. Wasn't that swell in July
just swell? After that long hot summer, it's pretty cool that it's nice
and cool. -
Seems pretty subjective to me. I am a very mediocre longboarder at
best(don't even own my own board), yet someone will call me a surfer,
but I am a good experienced bodyboarder who will rip double overhead
killer beachbreak and I am NOT a surfer?
I ride prone and dropknee, am I a surfer when I dropknee, but not when I
stay prone?
And it depends who you're talking to and in what context you are using
the word. In this conversation, I may refer to myself as a bodyboarder,
but otherwise, just using the term "surfer" is easier. If I tell someone
who is a surfer that I am a bodyboarder, and talk about all the places I
have surfed, he will realize I am truly a surfer, but joe blow will
probably get a vision of kids riding the shorebreak on a summer weekend
and will assume that I am what I would call, a "boogieboarder".
Honestly, someone who stands up deserves a little more respect, and I
have found that I get more respect when I dk than when I ride prone. But
when it's suckin' up and barreling at my local beachbreak, you can have
your respect and I'll take the barrels!
We don't have laws out in the lineup, we have rules. Language is much
the same. I would suggest that a good wave rider, no matter the
vehicle(or lack of one, right bodysurfers?), is a surfer, but a dog on a
surfboard, (
http://www.OnlineBusiness.com/TubeTime/pics/surfDog_Anim2.gif ) is
not...unless he can put it on the rail :-)
ARf!
the pup(Fred)
http://www.OnlineBusiness.com/TubeTime/index.html
John Webster
Fred wrote:
>
> We don't have laws out in the lineup, we have rules. Language is much
> the same. I would suggest that a good wave rider, no matter the
> surfboard, is not...unless he can put it on the rail :-)
>
> ARf!
> the pup(Fred)
Yes, pup, the definition of surfing is riding waves. The Dictionary
doesn't know shit about the real world. If you are riding the wave, you
are surfing, whether you are on your feet, on your belly, or you're a
dolphin.
Puh-leeze, just don't call the Internet noodler a Web surfer, or I'm
likely to puke. But I know we've covered this. ;-)
However, I can relate to some of the touchiness among some standup
surfers regarding boogiers and bodysurfers, because when I skate, then
tell someone I had a good skate session, and they say "you mean inline?"
I just about go into convulsions, my face start twitching, and I say in
a trembly voice, "no, sk- sk- skateboarding, fool..." A little less
dramatic in reality, but that's what I feel.
By the same token, if I say I took last year off to work at a resort in
Vermont for the winter, they say "You were a ski bum?" Similar reaction
as above, and "no, I was a snowboard bum."
These examples are provided to illustrate that, yes, I feel some of the
standup surfers pain regarding labelling boogie boarding and
bodyboarding surfing. As a standup surfer (when I'm not eating shit), I
am pretty proud of what I've done standing on a board, and think it
takes a little more time to master (I think...correct me if I'm wrong
body/boogie boarders) than the prone position techniques. Although I
would hate to paddle out without a board on some bigger days...
However, the fun factor is where you find it. And that's why we're out
there, right?
Semantics. If a kayaker rides a wave, is he/she surfing? Yes, because
he/she is riding a wave. (Although I have jokingly called these
"wheelchairs on waves." Very joking, very sensitive to those around me,
very quietly :-) :-) Hahahaha.) In the extreme, if my 6-year old nephew
(if I had one) were riding one foot of whitewater on an inner tube,
would he be surfing? Yes.
I present the extreme to make a point. In reality there may be up to 50
people at any given popular break on a weekend. 35 may be standup
surfers, 8 may be boogiers and 2 may by bodysurfers and 5 may be kooks.
What the pup and others say is true: if they are obeying the rules of
the lineup, paddling out, and dropping in with respect for others,
regardless of travel mode, they are surfing, in my book. Anything else
smacks of elitism/bigotry.
My skate and snow examples may smack of same, but I can co-exist
peacefully on street and snow with these other people having fun, and
not trash on their motion device of choice, as long as they respect
mine. That's really what it comes down to is respect for other people's
choices. I could go into a treatise on tolerance now, but this is
neither the time nor the place...
btw, I just ripped my knee open in a mtn. bike crash so no waves (or
anything else) for a while :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( Only
rambling statements about surfing semantics....
(Sorry, Leo, I know you probably saw this whine in skate ng, too)
Vicarious waves for now...hope everyone's gettin 'em,
--jw
jo...@cpg.com
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