Finally, a view on skateboarding
June 23, 2001 8:12 PM   Subscribe

Finally, a view on skateboarding not stereotyping those who partake in the sport as either ridiculously rebellious punks or bumbling idiots.
posted by Laugh_track (14 comments total)
 
To clarify: like we all aren't tired of all those skateboard bail clips on RealTV. My favorite Ahmad Rashad quote: "Do these guys ever land standing up?"

And how does the hilarious yet embarrassing search engine link tie in? It seems they've registered emericashoes.com, although apparently have nothing to do with the actual skate shoe company of the same name. Gah! Well, who needs shoes anyway when you can go to the "F Gameroom" and play "F Minigolf".
posted by Laugh_track at 8:27 PM on June 23, 2001


The article perpetuates the continually tooth-grating practice of referring to skateboarders as "skaters." Skating requires, well, skates, which are attached to one's feet. I'm sure I'm just being anal-retentive, but I'd think skating and skateboarding are different enough activities that it would be useful to employ different words for them.
posted by kindall at 8:56 PM on June 23, 2001


kindall, everyone that rides a skateboard "skates" and is a "skater." It's been an accepted standard of terminology at least since the 80's.

Fascinating paper, though I wish the author explored the entire range of subculture he described, instead of concentrating only on the relationship of skater to architecture and surroundings.
posted by mathowie at 9:04 PM on June 23, 2001


kindall, everyone that rides a skateboard "skates" and is a "skater." It's been an accepted standard of terminology at least since the 80's.

Yes, and it's been annoying me most of that time. ;)
posted by kindall at 9:13 PM on June 23, 2001


I'm sure I'm just being anal-retentive, but I'd think skating and skateboarding are different enough activities that it would be useful to employ different words for them.

They are. Rollerblades are seen in skate parks a lot more than rollerskates (of the 4-wheel variety), so those on rollerblades are called bladers, those on skateboards are skaters, and those in soaps are laughed at :)
posted by Laugh_track at 6:32 AM on June 24, 2001


Another interesting article about the science of skateboarding tricks can be found here. For those who always wondered "how do they get the board to stick to their feet??"
posted by fakeplastic at 10:25 AM on June 24, 2001


my first skateboard had stone wheels. anyone remember those?
posted by clavdivs at 10:50 AM on June 24, 2001


I remember messing around on my uncle's old skateboard... flat, slick piece of wood with narrow, dented, rusted metal wheels... frightening.
posted by techgnollogic at 12:45 PM on June 24, 2001


"not stereotyping those who partake in the sport as either ridiculously rebellious punks or bumbling idiots."

hey! if they didn't like the stereotype, they wouldn't cling to it.
posted by jcterminal at 12:57 PM on June 24, 2001


Skateboarders are currently the coolest people living on the earth. If we me'fi'ers weren't all overage tubbos we'd be out there burning skin too. Instead we cat on about overintellectualized wannabee essays. I'm just pissed that boards didn't come along when I was still wild enough to get on one.
posted by Twang at 3:04 PM on June 24, 2001


Examples of Poor Web Design, No. 3,453,809: click 'Frontside' to go to the next page. They could at least have added an arrow.
posted by lbergstr at 3:27 PM on June 24, 2001


Hmmm, I actually thought it was clever (frontside/backside). Didn't take me more than a millisecond to figure it out. Could have been more clear too, and so could everything, but then how boring would that be
posted by fooljay at 9:59 AM on June 25, 2001


But, Jay, in that millisecond, over 88% of web users choose to visit yahoo.com instead, and another .003% suffer a fatal infarction. And that means untold dollars in sales, and several lives, are lost. And that, Mr. and Mrs. Would-Be CEO, is why the web needs Jakob.
posted by rodii at 12:44 PM on June 25, 2001


Oy...

Natural selection at work if you ask me.
posted by fooljay at 3:14 PM on June 25, 2001


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