Talk:Mongo foot

I think what people say about riding mongo is just stupid, they say its harder to do most tricks, basically because of the fact that they are not used to riding that way, i mean i ride mongo and ive been riding for a long time and I have never found it to be a disadvantage. So I say if you ride mongo, don't try and change the way you ride, just do what feels more comfortable to you.

Note: I do not agree with the suggestion of the main article that an explanation of "Mongo Foot" in skateboarding should be merged with a more general article on Footedness for board sports, BMX and Soccer. Instead, the skateboarding section of that article should link to the "Mongo Foot" here for further explanation.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater probably invented this term.

As a San Diego native (huge skate scene), I've been skating for as long as I can remember. Long before anyone used the word "mongo" to describe this, every skater in SoCal referred to this as "penis pushing", and those brave souls who adopted this stance were called "penis pushers". Every skater I know in the area who is over 20 still calls it that, while all the kids say "mongo".

I was like 14 when the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater came out, and that was some hot stuff. It was the first skating game that felt like it actually represented some semblance of what skating really was, and all my skater friends at the time had the same reaction: "what the heck is mongo?" Looking back, obviously they didn't want to put a vulgar and derogatory phrase like "penis pusher" in their 1999 T-rated game (didn't the N64 version even remove blood?).

Can anyone find an earlier reference to this term than the first THPS game?

Anyway, just to prove I'm not totally crazy:

http://www.google.com/search?q="penis+pusher"+%2Bskateboarding

68.8.99.245 (talk) 09:25, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

the term mongo foot has been around since the 80s

the Tony Hawk Pro Skater comments above are pretty weak. I've been buried in the the skating scene for 22+ years. Mongo foot has been the preferred term to describe this style of pushing that entire time. The other widely excepted term is 'Shit Foot'. I'm sure various local scenes had their own term for Mongo Foot, like the above mentioned penis pusher. Grab yourself a thrasher magazine from 20 years ago and flip through it and you'll see that Mongo foot has been primary term since the inception of modern skate culture.

Google Image Search results for "mongo foot" - http://www.google.com/images?q=mongo+foot&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=5N_3S-HqNIT68AaRiNygDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CC8QsAQwAw

About.com refers to the condition as mongo - http://skateboard.about.com/od/skateboardingfaq/f/FAQMongo.htm

All experts.com refers to the condition as mongo foot - http://en.allexperts.com/e/m/mo/mongo_foot.htm

Skateboarding in the Seventies

Some of us forget that Robbie Dyrdek (street skater from the 90s) did not invent skateboarding and that there was an, albeit primitive, form of skateboarding that took place before this. “Mongo” is a term that envisions the prehistoric caveman of a bygone era; a relic of a man who hunted with wooden club and pushed with his front foot while skateboarding. For the kid of today, this period of the wooly “Mongo” might reach as far back as the seventies and refer to those primates who skated with lots of long hair (like Chris Haslam, but not quite that hairy), no shirt and no shoes and rode with surf style. I learned to skateboard in this time. I remember a book on how to skateboard from our school library. It explained a well known fact of the time, when you push a skateboard; you keep your back foot on the board. This helps you to steer the board while pushing. It also allows you to do little one footed redirection kick turns with your back foot while pushing.

Things have changed, the world went and got itself in a big damn hurry, and everyone is using their back foot to push now. This new way of pushing makes sense for quick starts, before jumping off stairs, as we see Rob Dyrdek doing in nineties street skating videos. Pushing with the back foot allows skaters to get ready for a trick faster because they do not have to reposition once both feet are on the board.

My older brother, born in 1964 rode skateboards a lot with me in the 70s. He had the unusual affliction at the time of being right footed but having a goofy stance. Most people who are “Right Footed” have a “Normal Stance”. “Normal Stance” as carried over from surfing means riding with your right foot in back. If you are right footed and ride goofy, that requires pushing with your back foot in order to keep your dominant right foot on the board the whole time. I let me brother try out my skateboard, now in 2011 and he started to apologize for his awkward way of pushing with his back foot. I said, don’t worry under this new age, and with the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell, what was formerly considered awkward is now the new normal and what was formerly normal, is now a primitive “Mongo”.

I could add to this by pointing out the way another skater from the seventies said it. He felt that originally it was not established whether you are supposed to push with your back foot or front foot and maybe half of the skaters would push with their front foot. Then when skateboarding got more critical, like with pools, skaters starters to see more of an advantage from pushing with the back foot and that became the norm.