Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Jumping the surfer: is a new expression born?

Yessir, this would be a man-bites-dog story.


The question is: how can we use the new phrase?

6 comments:

Jay said...

In theory, I'd say it in a situation where something/someone who had previously been "jumping the shark" (i.e. trending downhill quickly) went in the opposite direction, even if briefly.

For example, if The New York Times (or any MSM standby) produced an article that was fair, balanced, thoughtful, and didn't try to make Christians or Republicans look like lunatics/terrorists, that would be an example of them "jumping the surfer." (They jumped the shark decades ago.)

DJP said...

Oh, I like that!! That one is going to be hard to top.

Unknown said...

Another way of putting it ...

"They've been jumped by the shark."

It could be used to describe the backlash experienced by those who have previously "jumped the shark", e.g. the slow death the New York Times is experiencing due to its increasingly liberal bias.

SandMan said...

I am sorry to skip over the philosophical part of this discussion... however, this video was on the local news here in FL. If my memory is correct, it occurred in New Smyrna Beach, FL. That is about 3 hours from us. Years ago my then roommate took me there for some surfing. It was a great day. Lots of great waves to ride, and almost no one there. After about 5 hours of good surfing, we called it a day. As we left, I commented about how great this beach was and wondered aloud why there weren't hoards of surfers swarming the place. It was at this time that my friend decided to advise me that this is the shark attack capital of the world! (Which he then tried to mitigate by telling me that very few of the attacks had ever been fatal-- I think Australia holds that record).

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Shark attack capital of the world!

But it's all good, 'cause you won't die... you'll just be partially eaten.

Hmmm, seems like you could work that context into your new expression.

Spent a day with friends, swimming at a remote beach in West Australia, watching boats diddling around just out to sea from us. Found out that evening they were reeling in a 13 foot Great White. *shudder*

That one is the video might have been a spinner shark?

Merrilee Stevenson said...

(From the Mama shark to the youthful shark who has a taste for danger, "It's all fun and games until somebody jumps the surfer.")