NBD

The victory of Arisa Trew in winning gold in the Olympics skateboarding will mean that we will all learn a few more terms of skateboarding jargon.  The first one that struck me was the commentator’s use of NBD.  Apparently Arisa did a few of them.

This is not new in skateboarding jargon — just new to me. It means ‘Never Been Done’.  You can claim an all-time NBD or an NBD in a particular location.  Be warned — the most common meaning of NBD is ‘no big deal’ which could create confusion.  It is just the skateboarders who have given it this special meaning in which it is the opposite of ABD — ‘Already Been Done’.

Arisa also did coconuts, that is, coconut wheelies.  This is a trick where you flip the board onto its side, catching it just before it gets to vertical so that you are standing on the side of the deck and rolling on the side of two wheels.  No one knows how it got its name — not even the person who claims credit for it as an NBD, but it does seem that there is a tradition of giving skateboarding tricks weird names.  This one is relatively simple.  How about the steezy switch seven safety to switch, stomped?

That’s enough for now.  I am sure there is more to come.