Huh? What surfers mean when they’re frothing and charging at the Olympics or at home

Caroline Marks of the U.S. competes on Day 6 of the Paris Olympic Games in Teahupo’o, French Polynesia. In between waiting for waves, here are a few common surf terms we’ve overheard recently: A-frame wave, n. Used to describe a wave that breaks in the shape of an “A” and often referred to as a “peaky wave,” A-frames allow surfers to ride the breaking wave in both directions or split the peak. “That’s one we didn’t make up, but we certainly adapted for our own use,” said Warshaw, recalling a 1972 Surfer Magazine photo caption of a “horrific looking wave” that first used the word. “The thing that used to go with shaka is ‘howzit.’ ” Along with shaka, howzit is a Hawaiian slang term for “how’s it going.” Stoked, n. Stoked means to feed a fire, and in surfer language, it is an expression of pure excitement and the satisfaction one may feel after catching a good wave or completing a difficult maneuver. “When surfers are feeling excited to surf, they might say, ‘I’m so stoked,’ ‘I’m psyching’ or, my personal favorite, ‘I’m frothing,’ ” said Kevin Tran, a recreational surfer from San Clemente.