Sicktionary: Your Guide to Snowboarding Terms

Sicktionary is a monthly column in SNOWBOARDER Magazine in which we define snowboarding terms, lingo, and slang. In Snowboarder's December 2007 Issue we highlight some Salt Lake City terms. Keep reading to learn some shredtacular vernacular.

Eastern Canada’s Yan Dofin spends his winters scouring the earth for urban spots, and it seems to have paid off. Since being picked up by Rome a few years back, Yan has jibbed, dropped, and bonked his way into some of the most renowned snowboard publications in the world, but he isn’t stopping there. This year, Yan filmed with Technine for their release Cold World as well as bagging a substantial part in Rome’s Any Means. Though his baggy pants look like they’re going to fall down at any minute as he tears through urban terrain, you can bet that they’ll stay put right where they are if he stashes a few more winters like this under his belt.
-Tom Monterosso

Ledge [lej] noun: Usually made of concrete or brick, this is a wider version of a rail and is often sketchier to slide due to its porous surface, which makes catching an edge much easier.

Creeper [kre-pur] noun: Found on ledges, a creeper is a handrail that is connected to the stair side of the ledge, and can be jibbed…carefully. See right side of ledge in this photo.

Kink [kingk] adj: Any point where the angle of a rail changes sharply.

Jib Board [jib-bord] noun: A board dedicated to, and utilized solely for, jibbing. Usually smaller and more flexible, jib boards are used when a rider doesn’t care if they gouge, delaminate, or break it. Concrete ledges do more damage to snowboard bases than most jibs, so bring a jib board.

50-50 [fihf-tee fihf-tee] noun: When a snowboard is ridden on top of, and parallel to, the obstacle one is jibbing. A skateboarding term for locking both trucks onto a rail.

Frontside 50-50 [fruhnt-sid fihf-tee fihf-tee] noun: A 50-50 in which the rail is on the rider’s toe-edge side as they approach and ollie on.

Backside 50-50 [bak-sid fihf-tee fihf-tee] noun: A 50-50 in which the rail is on the rider’s heel-edge side as they approach and ollie on.

Boardslide [bord-slid] noun: Sliding a rail or ledge sideways, with the rider’s board perpendicular to the obstacle.

Frontside Boardslide [fruhnt-sid bord-slid] noun: When the feature is approached pre-jib from the rider’s toeside edge and then slid in a manner that has one’s back facing squarely downhill perpendicular to the obstacle.

Frontside Lipslide [fruhnt-sid lihp-slid] noun: Approaching the rail with it on your toe edge. Ollie and get your tail over the rail, locking in to a boardslide. High risk and severe consequences await if you catch your tail on the rail while ollieing over it.

Backside Lipslide [bahk-sid lihp-slid] noun: Approaching the rail with it on your heel edge. Ollie and get your tail over the rail, locking in to a frontside boardslide. Again, a high-risk maneuver. Get that tail over the rail!

Westside [wehs-sid] noun: You bitches better not f**k with the Westside goofyfooters. Word!

Smith [smihth] adj: A skateboarding trick that snowboarders once thought they could do. It involves trucks (which we don’t have), so leave it alone, ladies and gents.

Firecracker [fi-urr-crahk-urr] verb: Tailpressing down a flight of stairs so your tail slaps each and every step on the way down, making it sound very similar to firecrackers exploding.

Nosepress [nohs-prehs] noun: Ollieing onto a feature and landing on your nose while focusing most of your weight over your front foot and lifting your tail off of the obstacle. Don’t tap that tail, either, or it doesn’t count.

Tailpress [tale-prehs] noun: Ollieing onto a feature and landing on your tail while focusing most of your weight over your back foot. “The beaver has a mean tailpress.”

Hot Garbage [haht gahr-bij] noun: A frontside boardslide where your board is turned well past the perpendicular 90˚ mark. The more your tail turns down the hill, the hotter the garbage is.

Michael Jackson [mik-uhl jahk-sun] pervert : A 50-50 slid on your toe edge. The moonwalk of the snowboard world, popularized by one Scott E. Stevens (but invented by Ricky Tucker).

Usher [uhshhh-urrrr] noun: The antithesis of the Michael Jackson, an Usher is a 50-50 slid on your heel edge. The Usher has been known to bruise more prepubescent butts than Michael Jackson himself.

Genesis [jenn-eh-ses] noun: Hitting any obstacle in a side-slip position and landing in a side-slip position. One of the only tricks in snowboarding where the icier it is, the safer it is. If you’re afraid of the ice, then you can’t dance.

180 On [wun-aitee on] noun: Rotating a full 180˚ in any direction before landing on a jib feature. Backside and frontside are the most common 180˚ spins.

180 Off [wun-aitee off] noun: Rotating a full 180˚ in any direction before coming off of a jib feature.

270 On [tu-sev-in-tee on] noun: Rotating a full 270˚ in any direction before landing on a jib feature.

270 Off [tu-sev-in-tee off] noun: Rotating a full 270˚ in any direction before coming off of a jib feature.

Hardway On [hahrd-wa on] noun: Spinning onto a jib feature opposite the natural direction that the jib was intended to be spun onto. Example: a switch frontside 270 onto a rail on the rider’s left. Got it? Neither do we...

Pretzel Out [preht-zull owt] noun: Rotating frontside 270 out of a frontside boardslide.

Same Way [sam wa] noun: Rotating out of a rail in the natural direction that your body faces. Example: A backside 270 out of a frontside boardslide.

Tail-tap [tale tapp] noun: Tapping your tail on the end of the feature you are jibbing before you come off.

Tail-tap Revert [tale tapp ree-vurt] noun: Tapping your tail and rotating 180˚ or 360˚ when you come off the feature you are jibbing.

Donkey Dick [don-kee dihk] gross: A short, flat extension at the end of a handrail. Or, a short, round extendable nub near the testes of a burro. Both can seriously f**k you up.

Burr [buhr] noun: An imperfection in the smooth surface of a feature caused by a board’s metal edge digging in. Often causes further edge catching unless removed or filed off.

Stair [staer] noun: A way of measuring and conveying the length of a rail by counting the number of stairs underneath it. Not to be confused with the “thousand-yard stare,” which was a term used to describe Vietnam vets who spent too many tours sessioning with Charlie. Too boucoup, too boucoup.

Round Bar [rownd bahr] noun: A round barred rail to get nasty on, or the bar at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas, where pro snowboarders session the twelve-step during trade shows.

Gap To [gahp too] adj: Any obstacle in which you are forced to ollie out from, due to a protruding wall, post, gap, etc.… Not to be confused with “gap tooth,” which describes the smile of anyone who has knocked loose some choppers coming up short on the gap to.

Ride-On rahd on] adj: Ride-on rails are great for beginners, because they offer no consequences due to a lack of distance between the jump and the rail. Not to be confused with strap-ons, which usually lead to ride-ins.

Drop-In [drahp-inn] noun: A man-made ramp that riders tow around in order to get speed for rails surrounded by flats.

Tow-In [toh-inn] verb: When a rider utilizes his friends to pull him to a feature via man-power.

More Sicktionary Terms:
Sicktionary: Your Guide to Snowboarding Terms- Superpark Terms
Sicktionary: Your Guide to Snowboarding Terms - Pipe Pro
Sicktionary: Your Guide to Snowboarding Terms - Quebec Edition