This is the etymology of cowabunga.

Etymology [ edit ]

Unknown but generally credited (as "Kowa-Bunga") to Edward Kean, writer of The Howdy Doody Show, a children's TV show that ran in the USA from 1947 until 1956.[1] Chief Thunderthud, a character on the show, started every sentence with the nonsense word "kawabonga" or with the syllable "kawa"[2] followed by ordinary English words. Other Indian characters of a different tribe, such as Chief Featherman or Princess Summerfall Winterspring, used "kawagoopa" similarly, as a greeting or to voice frustration or surprise.[3] The comic character Chief Thunderchicken exclaimed "Kawa Chicken!". Chief Thunderthud was also occasionally heard to exclaim "Kowaraschi" to express extreme frustration, perhaps in reference to major league baseball player Vic Raschi, whose daughter occasionally appeared in the Peanut Gallery (studio audience).

During the 1950s and 1960s surfers adopted "kawabonga!" as a declaration of enthusiasm, changing the pronunciation slightly to "cowabunga!".[3] "Kupaianaha" is the Hawaiian word for surprising or wonderful[4] and it may have influenced surfers who had grown up with Howdy Doody. "Cowabunga" appeared in a 1965 Peanuts cartoon in which Snoopy uses the word whilst surfing,[3] and in surfer movies of the time.

Its use was revived by the surferesque character Michaelangelo in the 1987 US animated television program Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[3] and subsequently by Bart Simpson,[3] usually while skateboarding. (Although the The Simpsons' creators subsequently believed "Cowabunga" was only used in the show after it was used as a slogan on the T-shirts,[5] Bart actually used the term in the Tracy Ullman Shorts[6] and in the first season episode "The Telltale Head".) It was later used as a tagline for the 2002 film Lilo & Stitch.[3]

An alternate etymology is that cowabunga is derived from "umgawa," which is apparently a genuine Bantu word that was used in the Tarzan movies. [7]

References [ edit ]