Matt Warshaw has been the go-to source for all matters relating to surfing’s history for every writer for the better part of two decades. The Class of 1978 Mira Costa grad and alumni Hall of Fame member has long been known locally for his comprehensive knowledge of surfing. But now it’s official: the New Yorker in last week’s issue described Warshaw as “the world’s leading surfing scholar, the Linnaeus of the lineup.”
The occasion of the article was Warshaw’s gig as “Surf Consultant” for the world’s most revered reference tome, the Oxford English Dictionary [OED]. He’s the first such consultant in the 132 year history of the dictionary. The story, written by New Yorker staff writer Nick Paumgarten, delves into how Warshaw came to be the world’s foremost surf authority.
“Over the years, he has assembled a research library, in his home, of hundreds of books, thousands of periodicals, and some three hundred and fifty movies, and created a database: logged, indexed, searchable. From all this, and from his own experience as a California beach rat, middling pro surfer, and surfing writer, he composed the idiosyncratic yet authoritative ‘Encyclopedia of Surfing,’ which was published, to wide acclaim, in 2003. ‘I decided to rule this domain that no one gives a shit about,’ he said the other day. In the past half-dozen years, he’s been transferring the encyclopedia’s fifteen hundred-odd entries to the Web, and adding many new ones, along with a wealth of photographs and videos. He has likened this migration to Dorothy’s arrival in Oz.
Warshaw, who now lives in Seattle, credited his father, Michael, in a post on Facebook last week after the issue appeared on newsstands.
“My Dad gets a brief mention in the article, but he deserves more,” Warshaw wrote. “When I left SURFER for UC Berkeley, he bought me not just a two-volume OED, but also a subscription to the New Yorker. And he gave me, out of his collection of vintage watches, a really fine Tiffany watch—which 10 years later got lost in a club, through no fault of my own, I swear. But the New Yorker and the OED have been on my desk now for over 25 years. Thank you Nick Paumgarten for the write-up. And especially thanks to Michael Warshaw, who has been turning me on to the best and finest things since Day One.”
