When “ cowabunga ! ” was first uttered on a TV show for kids , it was n’t by a turtle . alternatively , it come out of the mouth of Chief Thunderthud , a now - very - queasy side character from the fifties children ’s showHowdy Doody .
As a made - up word first strike byHowdy Doodycreator Edward Kean and verbalize into existence by Thunderthud actor Bill LeCornec , kowabonga(as it wasoriginally spelledby the show)first enteredthe corporate lexicon in 1954 as a elbow room of expressing surprise or anger . It was presumably part of Thunderthud ’s herky - goosy “ aboriginal language , ” which he spoke as head word of the Ooragnak — kangaroospelled rearward — tribe .
AsHowdy - have intercourse kids grow up , though , some began to make the phrase their own . Specifically , surfer in Southern California , who initiate to use it in the ‘ sixty as a way to convey the sort of exhilaration that can only really come in with excitement and anticipation . cogitate : someone yelling “ cowabunga ! ” as they drop in to surf a 10 - foot waving , or the kind of breakers equivalent of “ banzai ! ”
Turtle Time
Cowabungakicked around the breaker scene for a couple decennary , joiningphraseslikegoofy foot(used to draw a surfer who free with theirright footforward ) andshooting the curl(meaning to “ [ surf ] the hollow part of a wave as it crests [ overhead ] . ” ) . And then , in 1987 , when looking for out - there tidings to use in introduce the audience to the skater / surfer / lapidator - coded Michelangelo in theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesanimated serial publication , writer David Wisecalled upon it too .
Interestingly , the phrase did n’t pop into Wise ’s mind because he was a surfer himself . Rather , he chose to use it just because the scene he was writing had Michelangelo sort of street - surfing over some object and he remembered aPeanutscartoonfrom the ‘ 60s where a surfingSnoopyused the idiom . Fred Wolf , an animator on theTurtlesseries , liked the use of it so much that he hint it becomeMichelangelo ’s catch phrase , and the rest is turtle history .
For the few age , the Michelangelo character relied reasonably hard oncowabunga , saying it in moving picture like 1990’sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , where it ’s present to the turtles by Splinter , and in picture games like 1991’sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Turtles In Time , where it ’s used when everyone ’s favourite reptilian hero finish levels . Michelangelo even performed apretty terrible rap music trackcalled “ Cowabunga ” on the“Coming Out of Their Shells ” tour of duty , to rather cringeworthy event . As theTMNTfranchise took off , though , so didcowabunga , shore everywhere fromt - shirtstoThe Simpsons .
Yet , clip moves on and trends slice : When Nickelodeon launched its ownTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesanimated series in 2012 , it choose to supercede the password withbooyakasha . It becameMichelangelo ’s catchphrasefor about two and a one-half season until the “ Meet Mondo Gecko ” episode , when the nominal lounge lizard reintroducescowabungaand Mikey showtime enjoin it from meter to clock time .
author working with the turtles have been able-bodied to have a little fun with the musical phrase since , with the 2014 movie discover that Raphael had convinced Michelangelo not to use it so much . In 2023’sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Mutant Mayhem , it’snot really utteredby a type until the end of the movie , a conscious choice made by the writers in an effort to set their characters asunder from the original series .
Of course , that did n’t bar essentially every medium retail store fromusing the set phrase in headlinesabout the movie or its subsequent box - position success , and really , can you fault them ? As any practiced surfer ( or turtle ) will tell you , there ’s just something special about that giddy little Bible .
