Why do surfers say cowabunga

Cowabunga , dude! During the s and s surfers adopted "kawabonga! The kid-watchers of Howdy Doody became acquainted with cowabunga in the '50s. But in the '60s, the term somehow made its way into surfer culture as an exclamation of awesomeness related to catching waves, or as a greeting or goodbye.

Record yourself saying 'cowabunga' in full sentences, then watch yourself and listen. Used to express delight or satisfaction. Edward Kean originated Thunderthud's greeting "Kowabonga! Cowabunga is a catchphrase first used by the Ninja Turtles in the animated TV series.

One of his movie catchphrases is, "I love being a turtle! On Tuesday, February 23, , a U. The term comes from the days of American vaudeville when the topmost, cheapest seats were dubbed the peanut gallery. Peanuts were sold as refreshments at most vaudeville shows, and if the occupants of the cheap seats were displeased with a performance, peanuts would rain down from their gallery. In Malay-speaking countries bunga means flower. As such bunga bunga written as bunga - bunga is simply the plural form of flower.

Davis and Kean both associate cowabunga with Bart Simpson, yet Antonia Coffman, chief publicist for "The Simpsons," views Bart's cowabunga connection as a stubborn urban myth. It happens. I get calls all the time about Bart and cowabunga. People insist they hear Bart saying cowabunga.

Coffman says Bart's cowabunga dilemma may originate with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who used the phrase "Cowabunga, dude! But I never used cowabunga until I developed Michelangelo for the Turtles.

Even so, it was touch and go for cowabunga for a while there. I never dreamed it would become such a big deal, and, incidentally, you can tell Eddie Kean I never made a dime off cowabunga either. Cartoon shenanigans aside, Tony Gordon clearly recalls cowabunga being used in Vietnam.

Gordon, a Chicago-area writer who saw combat as a master sergeant before standing down to desk duty in Da Nang, affirms that "cowabunga was thrown around quite a bit in Vietnam, but I always thought it started with the surfers and I also connected cowabunga with drag racing, the old Peterson Car-Toons and Surf-Toons magazines.

That's my initial attachment. Like most other diseases, I'm certain cowabunga migrated to the Midwest from California. So who owns the rights to cowabunga? Who earns money from its use? Eddie Kean says his status as an NBC staff writer negated any claims he might have had to the word, and David Wise paints much the same scenario for his Ninja Turtles experience.

I heard the Busch Gardens people registered cowabunga for a theme park they were planning. Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Category : English terms with unknown etymologies. Namespaces Appendix Discussion. Views Read Edit History.