A Query Of Slang

[MrInitialMan]

Would a surfer call himself a kook to describe his incompetence at something not related to surfing at all. Here is the bit of dialogue that I have written, and I hope it makes sense (just a note, Russ---the surfer in question---has a very thick English accent to go along with the slang.)
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"How's it going with you?" asked Mark. "I heard your grandpa was trying to teach you electronics?"
"Tryin' t', but I'm a total kook at it," sighed Russ. "I try, but I can't get me 'ead around it!"

[jaffa1949]

If you could hang out with your selected dialogue speakers and get the natural flow of their speech, BTW you can call yourself a Kook at something, you are learning!

[MrInitialMan]

Alas, I am unable to hang out with surfers In Real Life, as I myself live in Alberta. Forums are as close as I can get for surfer speak and very old Andy Capp comics for his accent.

[jaffa1949]

That gives me a thought that might help, the ski fields would have scattering of snowboarders and skiers who also surf!
They may provide you with a lexicon of surfers jargon and usage

Surfers are pretty migratory I am an Austrlian surfing river waves in Austria not a coast line in sight!

[MrInitialMan]

In the above dialogue, did I at least use the term "kook" correctly?

[jaffa1949]

Yes no wukkas

[Geezer]

Write what you know. Accomplished writers talk and listen their way around the world.

[jaffa1949]

True dat!

[oldmansurfer]

Perhaps something that isn't clear is that surfers are not a homogeneous group. Surfers come from all categories of humans and likewise will say all sorts of things.

[Naeco78]

I thought Point Break did a decent job with the surfing sub-culture and the different groups he would run into at each local. Might be a good one to check out for context.

[SwellMan]

It's funny to see how Cambridge define kook as a "strange person"
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... glish/kook