Northern California Surf Culture In today's society, there are many different linguistic environments that we pass through every day. As far as I'm concerned, the "diverse" linguistic environment is in the water. I'm a surfer, a Northern California surfer at that. In my second language environment many different words and phrases are used to describe our excitement or enthusiasm, our past experiences, the latest session or simply to convey our feelings towards other fellow waveriders, the dudes. We speak the romantic language of the sea. A typical outing on the water can turn any bad day into an incredible confidence boost. Capturing the King Cong set or entering a hollow barrel causes booing and yelling. Taking that final steep fall from an overhead roller is a feeling no ordinary Barney can describe. A Barney is a person who is learning to surf or not surfing at all. It excites me so much to see my friends tearing up those waves, and when I'm down it always cheers me up. There is no feeling like it in the world. When talking about our last session where she got wet, you might hear phrases like "she was reeling" or "the winds were howling out there. When the waves get windy we call it rough and when the waves are really good, we say they're pumping or going away.During the spring to fall season, late afternoon at the beach is exceptionally beautiful and the winds are calm, we call it the afternoon glassoff. Surfers have given this part of the day this name because the water has a clean and glassy look. I talk to other surfers I use various different words to converse with them. Hey man, what's up buddy, and hello Barney are just some of the words that are used every day by your local wave distributors tend to open with you, maybe even tell you where their favorite spot is. Throughout society there is a stereotype that surfers smoke marijuana, meaning they smoke chronically, bomb, dank, green, smoke, smoke, have bong sessions. This is largely true folklore, many surfers smoke but not because they are drug addicts. Most of them do it to improve the waves. Making it steep