596: Another name for a darkslide. (NYC term for their 'grind of the month)

Acid drop: A large fall or gap that you typically jump into or over.

Acid grind: A grind in which your soul foot is on the bar/curb normally, but instead of your front foot being perpendicular to the bar like normal, it points in the opposite direction.

Air: What you want to catch!!

Air Kedidi: Any tI'me you catch air, and your legs begin to bicycle as you lose control. It usually comes before a big fall!

Alley-oop: A move in which you turn one way while rotating another. Ie- you catch air on a ramp going right to left, yet you spin clockwise. When used in reference to grinding, it means doing the grind backwards. An example of this would be an alley-oop soul. This has the same stance as a soul grind yet you slide the object soul foot first.

Alley-oop Soul: A soul grind in which you have a normal soul grind stance, but slide soul foot first (or going backwards).

Armor: Your pads, man! Wear them with pride!

Anti-rocker: A type of wheel setup in which you have small wheels in the middle of the skates, and larger wheels on the outside. This allows you to grind easier, because of the bigger area between wheels.

AWOL: Soyale in which only the toe of the boot and not the whole soul is on the rail.

Backside: A type of grind. If you are approaching a bar on your right, and turn 90 degrees counterclockwise to get on it, you are doing a backside grind.

Backslide: A grind using only the back foot balancing carefully on the boot and frame. Usually the free foot is grabbed.

Bacon in the pan: When you wipe out good on a ramp. You slide around and shrivel up just like frying bacon..

Banana: Another term for switch (or unnatural).

Bar: Common name for a grinding bar or rail.

Bearings: The two round things in the center of your wheel that allows it to spin.

Berani: A front flip with a 180 in it.

Bio: Sideways spin. (Preferably horizontal)

Blindside: A trick in which you turn away from the grinding object to grind it. Ie- if you lose site of the object sometI'me during the jump-to-grind. If you were skating backwards at the rail and did a 180 to soul watching the rail the whole tI'me, its a half-cab soul. If you spun the other way (so that you lost sight of it), it would be a blindside halfcab soul. Whew!

Boardwalk: A topside soul with the back foot rolling on its toe.

Boulevard: A sidewalk with the front foot acid. See Crosswalk.

Brainless: A back flip with a 540 done on a ramp. The trick is to watch the coping go by as you spin and flip.

Buddha: See Unity.

Budget Variation: A variation in which you only have to move one foot. This trick is much easier than the two footed variations.

Bullshit Grind: West coast term for a tabernacle grind.

Bunny: A hopeless newbie skater who is always holding on to things for support.

Bump: A term for stair riding. Usage- Lets go bump some stairs.

Cab: A term for a fakie 360.

Cabalerno: A backflip with a 180 in it.

California Roll: See Med Spin.

Camel: Another word for a toe-tap.

Capped: When a rail has caps put on it that makes it I'mpossible to grind.

Caveman Rail: Rails that are really high and hard to get on.

Cess Slide: Where you are doing a hockey stop with your skates. Ie- you slide sideways on both skates. Its usually done going down a slope or on a smooth surface.

Christ: A backslide in which the heel of the non-grinding skate is resting on front of the sliding skate.

Clicking in: Phrase used to describe the click you make when you jump up and lock in a rail for a grind.

Coping: The metal bar going horizontally across the top of a ramp. This allows you to grind or stall easily.

Corkscrew: A fakie bio 540.

Cowboy Grind: Grind in which you do a frontside (or backside) on both outside edges. To do this your feet have to be close and your knees bowed out like you are a cowboy on a horse.

Crab: Where you skate along sideways with your heels touching each other.

Crossed: Term used to describe grabs in which you reach over (or cross) your body to do the grab. Ie- A crossed rocket is when you are in a rocket, and grab with one hand the skate on the opposite side.

Crossed up: SI'milar to crossed. However in this one, your feet are what crosses up, and not your hands. Ie- A crossed up mute is a mute grab with one foot behind the other, a la crossed legs.

Crosswalk: A Sidewalk grind in which the front foot is acid.

Curb grind: A grind that is done on a curb. (See grind)

Darkslide grind: A grind in which you are doing a 'double' royale. Your front foot is pointed in the opposite directions (acid).

Deadfish grind: A grind in which the front foot is topside and the back foot is rolling on the front wheel.

Demon grind: A grind in which you soul grind using the inside of your skate instead of the usual outside.

Diana: A term for a farside alley-oop miszou.

Dickey Grind: See Neighborhood grind.

Disaster: Generally associated with grinding. You do a disaster grind when you jump high (possibly doing a grab), land, and grind.

Double Ore-Ida: Vert trick in which you an alley-oop 720.

Dropping In: Whenever you enter a ramp from the top of it.

Duck Walk: Where you skate on the toe wheel of one skate and the heel wheel of the other.

Dumb Soul: Another name for an acid soul (front foot turned the other way).

Egg Plant: Handplant in which you plant only the outside hand. Ie- You go vertical by turning counterclockwise and you plant your right hand.

Elbow: Where you have one mini-half pipe placed at an angle next to another one allowing you to transfer between them.

Express Air: Air in which you grab the inside of the skate with the same side hand. Ie- grab the inside of the right skate with your right hand. It's generally done with a stiff other leg.

Fakie: Anything done backwards. Ie- Fakie 360 is a backwards to backwards 360.

Fahrvergnuegen: An alley-oop royale grinding position.

Farside: Any grind in which you go over the bar and land on the 'far side' to start grinding.

Farslide: See suislide because I'm not going to try and describe it again!

Fast slide: Where you do a grind (like a frontside), but only use the front foot.

Fast soul: Where you do a grind with only your soul foot on the bar.

Fishbone: A fishbrain with the non-grinding foot out straight and grabbed. Sort of like a rocket fishbrain.

Fishbrain: A topside makio grind.

Flatlander: A skater who skates only street and no vert.

Flat rocker: A wheel setup in which all for wheels are touching the ground. The outside wheels are larger than the middle 2 wheels, but the middle 2 are rockered down so that all touch.

Flip: Any move in which you rotate a full circle with your waist being the axis of rotation. You can do this by spinning forwards or backwards.

Frank Sinatra: A shifty miszou.

Frontside: A type of grind. If you are approaching a bar on your right, and you turn clockwise 90 degrees to get onto it, you are doing a frontside grind.

Fun soul: A New York term for soul slides.

Genie Grab: A grab in which you are sitting cross legged and grabbing straight down with both hands.

Granny Smith: A New York term for an alley-oop makio.

Grind: Where you jump onto something and slide down it on your skates. You usually go parallel to a curb, jump and turn 90 degrees, and slide sideways down it. There are innumerable variations of this.

Grind Plate: A piece of either metal or plastic that you put on the bottom of your skates (between the 2nd and 3rd wheel) to help you grind. This helps your skates last longer, because you wear away the plate instead of the boot.

Grommet: Term for a young skater.

H Grind: A soul grind using both inside souls.

Half Cab: Going from skating backwards to skating forwards.

Half Pipe: A type of ramp that is usually made out of wood and looks much like 'half of a pipe' or a U. They can range from 3 feet high to over 12 feet in height.

Han Solo: An alley-oop makio grind.

Hand Plant: Also called an invert, it is when you go upside down on the ramp and do a handstand. It is usually done on the coping, but can be done below the coping as well.

Hardcore: Term used to describe skaters that are not afraid to take risks.

Hip: Section of a ramp that is perpendicular to another section. This allows for tricks going from one part to the other.

Hip-Hop: An invert in which you touch the coping with your hand twice.

Hobo: A backslide with the back foot, and the front foot is rolling on the toe wheel (with foot facing towards you).

Hop-up kit: A set of axels and screws that goes between your bearings and gives you much better speed performance. They are generally made of aluminum and cost around $20.

Indi Grab: Where you do a reverse mute on the ramp. Ie- if you spin counter, and grab your right skate mute with your left hand.

Invert: When you go upside down on the ramp and do a handstand. It is usually done on the coping, but can be done below the coping as well.

Japan air: A grab in which you reach behind you to grab the opposite leg and the non-grabbed leg is bent.

Judo air: Trick in which you reach around behind you with one hand and grab the skate of the opposite side. The ungrabed leg is straight.

Kang: A Liu Kang thrown in the middle of a fakie 360.

Kazoo: An alley-oop meow.

Kind grind: Another term for a diana (or an alley-oop farside miszou). You have to lean WAAAAYY forward onto the soul foot so that your lead foot is almost sliding down on the boot.

L.A. Grind: Grind when you are on the outside edges of both skates with your legs crossed.

Late tricks: Usually describes a spinning trick. It is a trick that you do just before you land. Ie- You launch off of a ramp, and at the last second you turn backwards, thus doing a late 180.

Liu Kang: A grab in which the non-grabbed leg kicks out as if you are doing a side kick.

Look-back: When you do a shifty, and look behind you as far as you can.

Lowrider soul: Soul grind in which you are sitting down low on your soul skate.

Magic Trick: Switchup going from royale to alley-oop soul without jumping.

Makio: Another soul slide term. Done when you grab the non-souling foot with the hand closest to it.

Mistiest: One of the coolest looking tricks done on a vert- It is an inverted 540. You skate up the ramp, let your feet go above your head as you are spinning. As your feet come back down, finish spinning, and drop back in.

Med Spin: An on the ground 360 in which you go from forward on to feet to rolling backwards on one foot, then back to forwards on 2 feet.

Meow grind: A miszou royale.

Method air: When you are catching air, you reach down with your hand and grab the skate on the same side.

Miller Flip: Back flip with a hand placed on the coping as you rotate over.

Mistrial: A topside miszou royale. See overpuss.

Miszou: A grind in which you lead with the soul of the skate, and follow with your back foot perpendicular to the rail/curb. Ie- A soul grind with the foot thats normally in front of you behind you.

Misty flip: A front flip that is performed sideways. Ie- you hit a jump, spin sideways and land fakie. You actually do a FAST rotation through 540 and it is close to a bio 540.

Mono: When you skate backwards on one foot while grabbing the other foot.

Mute Air: It is when you reach down with the right hand across the front of your legs and grab your left foot. (Or vice-versa)

Nasty Grind: See Neighborhood.

Natural: Term used to describe doing grinds going in your better direction.

Negative Royale: A shifty grind in which your lead foot is on the outside edge.

Neighborhood Grind: A frontside with the trailing foot acid (or pointed back at you). The back foot is grinding on the outside edge.

Nifty: Negative shifty or an alley-oop royale type grind.

Nollie: A grind in which you are in your first groove on your skates.

Ore-Ida: The term for an alley-oop 360.

Overmiszou: Where you do a farside miszou on a ramp or curb.

Overacid: When you do a topside acid soul on a ramp or ledge.

Oversoul: Term used to describe doing a farside soul on a ramp or curb.

Phillips 66: A fakie 360 handplant on a ramp.

Pool: Can either be real, or made of wood. Its a good place to practice your ramp skills.

Porn Star: The popular term for an acid miszou.

Pump: This is what you do to gain speed on ramps. It involved bending and extending your legs, and using your arms to give you momentum. Kind of like riding a swing when you were young.

Rail slide: A type of grind in which you slide down a hand rail. Usually interchangeable with grind. (See grind)

Ramp: Generally assumed to be a half pipe, but it can just as easily be a quarter-pipe or launch ramp.

Rewind: When you come off of a grind or stall, you do a 270 or whatever spin. Ie- You slide down a rail going left->right, and as you come off, you do a spin clockwise.

Roach Clip: See Darkside grind.

Rockered wheels: Another type of wheel setup in which the middle two wheels are lower than the outside two wheels. This allows you greater mobility, but sacrifices stability.

Rocket: A grab in which both legs are straight out in front of you and you reach to grab them. It is just like a pike in diving.

Rockio: A rocket makio grind.

Roughneck: A 540 in which you grab around your to the same leg in the opposite direction you are rotating. Ie- Spinning counter clockwise you reach with your left arm around in front of you to grab your left skate.

Royale: Where you grind on the inside edge of one skate, and on the outside edge of the trailing skate. Sometimes interchanged with the term shifty.

Running Man: When you are in the air and start flailing your arms and legs. (See Air Kedidi)

Sad Plant: An invert in which only the inside hand is used.

Savannah: An alley-oop unity grind.

Session: Where you go out and skate. Like a skating session.

Shake And Bake Grind: When you do an alley-oop 360 to frontside on a ramp.

Shift kick: You do one of these when you are pulling a budget variation. When you switch stances, you jump up, act like you are going to pull a 180 by switching your feet, then land back down normally.

Shifty grind: When you turn your upper body during a grind while looking forwards. Sometimes switched with the term royale. Also some call a shift a royale that isn't on the boot.

Shuffle: Another way to say a cess slide done on a ramp.

Sideswipe: A sidewalk with the front soul foot doing a royale instead of a soul.

Sidewalk: A porn star (acid miszou) with the back foot all the way down on its laces.

Sit down: Any grind done really low or sitting down.

Sit in: When you sit down on the coping of a half-pipe, and push yourself in. Just make sure to push hard so your feet get under you.

Smith grind: What New Yorkers call a soul grind.

Snot Rocket: See tabernacle.

Snub soul: Where you soul like normal with the back foot, but the front foot grinds along the inside.

Soul grind: A type of grind in which the front foot is on perpendicular like a normal frontside, but the back foot is on parallel to the rail (Or grinding on the sole).

Solo: Skating forwards on one foot, while grabbing the other.

Soyale: Used to describe an alley-oop royale soul grind. You are doing a royale, but the front foot is in an alley-oop soul position.

Spin Cycle: Grind in which you pull at least 5 non-budget variations.

Spine ramp: A type of ramp in which two halfpipes are placed back to back of each other allowing transfers.

Stair bashing: Riding down stairs, either forwards, backwards, or sideways.

Stale: Term used to describe any grab in which you grab the wheels of the skate.

Stalefish grab: When you reach behind you and grab the outside of the opposite skate.

Stall: When you jump on something (like a curb) with skates, stop on it for a couple of seconds, and jump off.

Stand In: When you are standing on the coping of a ramp, lean forward, and drop in.

Stiffy: Any grab in which one legs is straight (or stiff).

Stub Soul: A soul grind in which the front foot is grinding on the inside edge.

Sui-slide: A one footed grind in which you you grind on the outside edge of the boot, but it is in front of you. You approach the object from the left, jump on with the closest foot (the right), and point the toe back to you so that you are grinding on the outside edge. Kind of like a backside fast slide. (Or an alleyoop backside backslide)

Switch-Stance: When you are grinding, you switch from a frontside to a backside, or vise-versa. It is just a 180 while you are sliding. Also used to describe a grind you are doing in the unnatural direction. The term is also Sometimes used to describe doing an unnatural grind.

Tabernacle grind: A grind in which the trailing foot is on like a frontside but the lead foot is acid (dumb). Ie- The front foot is doing a backside while the trailing foot is frontside position. The toes are pointing in opposite directions. (whew!)

Topside grind: Also referred to as a oversoul (or miszou), it is where you are doing a 'farside' grind on a plater or the coping, even though your skate cant rest in a farside position. You will be grinding on the frame.

Torque grind: Another term for a suislide.

Torque soul: A soul grind in which the front foot is in alley-oop royale position.

Training wheel: When you are doing a grind and the front foot is rolling along the heel wheel. Usually (and assumed) to be done with a topside soul.

Transition: The part of a ramp that goes from horizontal to vertical.

Torque slide: See suislide.

Unity grind: Another term for an LA grind.

Unnatural: Term used to describe when you are doing a grind (or rotating on a ramp) opposite of the way you normally go.

Variation: Frequently used term to describe just about everything! Switching a grind from backside to frontside, or going from frontside to soul are two examples.

Vert: Term used to describe any half-pipe that goes vertical at the top. They are usually around 8-12 feet high.

Vile: Term used to describe a trick done sideways (usually a spin) So if a spin in Kind of sideways and not quite a misty, then it is vile.

Wax(ing): When you scrape wax onto curbs or rails to allow for easier grinding. Anything from paraffin wax to soap to candles works.

Wheelbarrow: A backslide with the front foot rolling on the back wheel.