Skateboarding Lingo You Need to Know
Excuse me, can you repeat that?
The skateboarding culture has developed its own unique lexicon that is vast and can leave non-members lost in translation. From the infinite amount of tricks and their crazy names, to skateboard parts, spot features, and various words of wisdom, accolades, or depreciation, it's enough to make your head spin thinking you are learning a whole new language.
With so many new skateboarders coming into the sport since the Tokyo Olympics and for the sake of their parents being able to decode what is being said, we’re breaking down the top 4 most used sections of lingo you’ll want to know as a skateboarder (or parent of one!).
1. Popular Skateboarding Styles
Not all skateboarding is the same. There are actually numerous styles of skateboarding and different sizes and designs of boards are required to do them. The most well-known include:
● Freestyle: Just as its name implies, its your own personal style. Originally started as mode of transportation in the 1950’s, freestyle uses a flat ground and skateboarders then perform tricks like ollies, manuals, and more.
● Vert: Probably the next well-known type of skateboarding is vert- short for vertical. This type of skateboarding involves another with a slope. Commonly used are empty pools, half-pipes, or ramps.
● Street: Taking place in any city environment, this type of skateboarding utilizes its surroundings for the sport. Stairs, handrails, benches, and curbs are all fair game to play off of for performing tricks.
● Off-road: This is probably the lesser known type of skateboarding, but it is up and coming. Skateboarders get off the paved roads and tackle uneven terrain such as woodlands, mountain bike trails, or gravel. Definitely not for beginners, this type of skateboarding requires a high degree of balance and skill.
2. The Stances
In skateboarding there are five different stances, each of them important in their own right. The standard stances are a regular footed stance and goofy footed stance. All you need to do to know which one fits you is just by getting on the board. The goofy footed means you skate with your right foot forward and left near the tail (a term to describe the back of the board) and the regular stance is just the reverse of that.
Your other less common stances are the fakie, nollie, and switch. Basically for each skateboard trick out there (and there are lots of them), then you can expect three variations- each one being a different stance. For example you have a kickflip trick, but is it a fakie kickflip, a nollie kickflip, or a switch kickflip? Simple enough, right?
3. Skateboard Parts
The skateboard has several parts you’ll want to familiarize yourself with.
● Deck - the board itself
● Griptape - Applied to the surface of the deck, the griptape prevents slips and is a must have to keep your feet on the deck
● Hardware - Usually 8 bolts and nuts to fasten the trucks to the deck.
● Trucks - Fastened on the bottom of the deck, these are the axle for the bearings and wheels
● Bearings - You have 8 of them, 2 for each wheel.
● Wheels - (Obviously) 4
● Risers - These are shock pads to provide added gap between the wheels and bottom of the deck.
Knowing these parts are key because once you start learning tricks they will be reference quite a bit. So study up and become knowledgeable on the terms used to describe the skateboard parts.
4. Skateboard Tricks
The lingo used to describe skateboarding tricks could become an article (novel?) in itself, so this is a highly condensed version of some of the more popular ones. Before attempting any of these tricks you’ll want to make sure your deck is outfitted in some quality griptape (refer to #2 if you already forgot this vocabulary).
Flip tricks are exactly what you might think. Flipping or spinning off the board in the air and then landing back on the board. Kickflips are probably the most well-known of the flip tricks.
Grinds and slides were seen a lot at the Toyoko games. A grind is when a skater slides across the surface of a ledge with the trucks and a slide is the same except you slide on a part of the deck of the skateboard like the belly, nose, tail, etc.
Manuals are also a popular trick at skateparks. Think of this trick similar to popping a wheelie on a bike. Riding on the back wheels is called a manual and if you ride the front two that is called a nose manual.
Grip Your Deck
Now that you’ve gotten up to speed on some of the lingo, make sure your board is looking good and keeping you from slipping during all your grinds, manuals, and kickflips. Jessup Manufacturing is a leader in skateboard grip tape and is the Official Griptape Partner and sponsor of USA Skateboarding. Shop our wide range of Skateboard Griptape Different colors, graphics & brands today.
