![]() ![]() In the early 20th century, someone might have expressed their dismissiveness of something by using the phrase big deal. In 1989, it was featured heavily in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure you can see a short clip of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter discussing the word above. As the up-to-my-chest-on-this-board-bro demonstrated, sometimes it's just when you call someone a kook that you become the kook yourself.According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, this word-a blend of bold and audacious meaning “excellent, wonderful, very enjoyable”-was coined in the 19th century but found new life in the 1970s thanks to CB radio, where it was used to reference a strong incoming signal. Kookery lies in the shadows, waiting to strike when you are unaware (or completely self-absorbed in any given moment). In conclusion, I think I've made it clear that it's easier to be a kook than one might think. I think this might just be the conclusive evidence that we need to demonstrate that both the kookery of Laird on his golf-board and the kookery of a beginner is indeed a lack of awareness of oneself and how ridiculous one might look, or annoyance one might cause, to the casual obsurfer. "Gosh-golly jeepers, I am/was such a kook." In stating those words, you are trying to demonstrate awareness to anyone listening, thereby absolving yourself from the guilt of the kooky behavior. Ponder the natural human tendency to try and avoid being a kook by calling oneself a kook. Nobody wants to be a kook, and we often do what we can to avoid being one at all costs. I think Dane has hit on something here that is categorical and all-encompassing in defining modern kookiness. Someone who is not aware of their surroundings, not aware if they are cutting in line or being obnoxious and annoying people around them, that's a kook." "And it has nothing to do with your level of surfing. Perhaps that is the common thread that ties these two diverse concepts together and can provide us all with a foolproof method of avoiding kookery in our own lives! Certified #notakook Dane Reynolds has some pearls of wisdom to share that certainly provide a narrative string in defining the term.ĭane, in his definition of a kook, places the emphasis on a lack of awareness. Okay, two types of kooks: newbies who don't get it, and pros who don't get it. As the infamous Instagram bio reads: "Don't be offended we're all KOOKs in our own way." So you can be a beginner and be a kook, but you can also be Laird Hamilton and be a kook. The entry for "kook" reads: "Timeless derogatory surfing term, generally applied to rank beginners, but also used for any surfer thought to be in violation of surfing's complex unwritten code of conduct a world champion paddling out to a surf break for the first time and dropping in on a local, for example, would be shouted down as a ‘kook.'"Īnd I think this is something we all can agree with. The holy scripture, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, provides a more inclusive definition. Beginners are often kooks, yes, but not all kooks are beginners. The top hit described a kook as "a pre-beginner surfer, an aspiring wave rider, a nerd, or someone who tries - and fails - to mimic the surfing lifestyle." I would have to disagree with that definition, as I think it's completely possible to be a beginner surfer and not be a kook. But "kook" and "surfing" typed together yielded different results. Kook (The Inertia) - is a kook? When I posed this question to Google, the definition, sourced from the Oxford Dictionary, was an informal (North American) noun, meaning a crazy or eccentric person. In the following highly academic document I shall discuss the two main categories of surfers to which the term is applied and search for a common thread that ties the two together, with which we can identify any and all kooks in the wild. ![]() So for your reading pleasure (and perhaps education), I present to you this exhaustively researched treatise on the definition of what it means to be a kook. Now, who was the kook in that situation? With the word being thrown around like beads at a Mardi Gras parade, there's sure to be some confusion. Stop stealing all my waves and get a real man's board, you kook." Really? "Had a frustrating surf, there were so many kooks in the water," or "don't ditch your board you fucking kook!" Most recently: "I'm up to my chest on this board, bro, you're up to your waist on that fish. I hear the word "kook" thrown around a lot these days. This article was originally published by The Inertia ![]()
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