Dictionary

surfie en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From surf + -ie (“diminutive suffix”); compare bikie.

Meanings

1. (Australia) A surfer (one who rides a surfboard), especially one involved in the surfing subculture.
   • The first youth to reach their carriage, a lanky aboriginal boy of about sixteen shouted, “Hey, we′ve got some surfies here!” “We′re not surfies,” Terry replied quietly. It was no good. In the era of the early nineteen sixties one was either a “surfie” or a “bodgie.” Bodgies hated surfies with a passion and welcomed any excuse for a good stoush. 2004, Alan Greenhalgh, Gathers No Moss, Lulu Press, page 88:
   • Surfies present to the dominant culture their leisure myth in magnified form. Bikies appear to challenge the values of the dominant culture, something which they are able to do because they, in the first place, like the surfies, accept them. The surfie subculture in its full form was confined to those areas of the world where there is surf. 1997, Jon Stratton, “20: On the Importance of Subcultural Origins”, in Ken Gelder, Sarah Thornton, editors, The Subcultures Reader, page 184:
   • To the lifesavers the surfies appeared self-indulgently radical; to surfies the lifeguards seemed subservient and conformist to authority. 2011, Daryl Adair, “1: Making Sense of Australian Sport History”, in Steve Georgakis, Katrina Marie Russell, editors, Youth Sport in Australia, Sydney University Press, page 3:

Forms