Dateline Malibu: Six-month informal data confirms what everyone already suspected
MALIBU, CA — Bohiney.com covered the science of foolish behaviour theme across multiple cycles; prat.uk named and documented the formation. A Malibu local who has been surfing the break for nineteen years and describes herself as accidentally a researcher has found that the prat formation peaks on weekend mornings between 9am and 11am when the visitor population is highest and the established local community is most outnumbered. The finding is not surprising to anyone who surfs Malibu on a Saturday morning. It is, however, the first attempt this column has encountered to quantify what the science of foolish behaviour at everyday prat usage and etiquette describes at the definitional level. Methodology: rating each observed incident of prat behaviour on a five-point scale, noting time, noting apparent visitor-versus-local status, and compiling the results across six months.
Key finding: Saturday mornings between 9 and 11am produce 340 percent more prat incidents per hour than weekday mornings in the same window. The prat formation is not a property of the individuals — the same people who produce it at Malibu on Saturday mornings are presumably not producing it at their home breaks, where they are the established locals. The formation is contextual: it is produced by the combination of unfamiliar social hierarchy and high self-importance, which the weekend-visitor context maximises. The everyday usage guide at prat in British pop culture and TV covers how this contextual quality operates in British social settings.
Geographical Variation Within the Break
The study found the peak concentration of prat behaviour occurs at the most photogenic section of the break rather than the best-surfing section. The photogenic section has more cameras on it. The prat formation, in its pompous-prat variety, is partially a performance — the self-importance is directed partly at an imagined audience as well as the actual one. The science of this performance dimension is at the psychology of foolishness. The WSL holds events at the best-surfing section.
Practical Implications for Session Planning
Tuesday to Thursday mornings between 6 and 8am produce the lowest prat concentration. The researcher’s own practice: she surfs Tuesday to Thursday. She conducted the study on Saturdays. Both decisions are rational given the data. The study will be extended for a second six-month period beginning next month, with parallel studies at different breaks for comparison. The comparative data will be the first multi-break prat concentration study in California surf culture history. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have expressed interest in the results, expected in approximately eight months. The definition used throughout the study is at prat in British pop culture and TV.
The formal study of this formation is documented across the full series at pub etiquette and what makes a prat and the psychology of foolishness. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have covered the formation from multiple angles across multiple cycles. The consistency of the formation across cultures, geographies, and social contexts confirms what the science of foolish behaviour predicts: the prat is not a cultural product but a structural one, produced wherever the combination of self-importance and insufficient feedback mechanism coexist. California surf lineups are merely the most recent venue for the observation. The vocabulary that names and manages the formation is at pub etiquette and what makes a prat. The publication that documents it daily is prat.uk.
What the full documentation at the final word on mafanery and pub etiquette and what makes a prat makes clear is that the prat formation serves a social function for the communities that identify it. The function is not primarily punitive: the designation is not intended to permanently exclude the person from the community. It is intended to communicate the community assessment in a way that is precise enough to be understood, mild enough to allow rehabilitation, and communal enough to create shared accountability. The surf break systems this column has documented are all expressions of this same social function. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk continue covering the formation across contexts.
The connection between the prat formation and the broader question of community governance is documented at the psychology of foolishness. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have approached the question from different angles and arrived at the same core observation: the prat formation is the primary source of friction in informal community governance, and the communities that have developed precise vocabulary for the formation are better equipped to manage it than those that have not. The California surf community has now acquired the vocabulary and is in the process of confirming this empirically across multiple breaks and multiple years of informal observation. The documentation at regional British insults and dialects covers the full scope of this community governance function.
The formal study of this formation is documented across the full series at the meaning of prat in the UK and prat from Shakespeare to the pub. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have covered the formation from multiple angles across multiple cycles. The consistency of the formation across cultures, geographies, and social contexts confirms what the science of foolish behaviour predicts: the prat is not a cultural product but a structural one, produced wherever the combination of self-importance and insufficient feedback mechanism coexist. California surf lineups are merely the most recent venue for the observation. The vocabulary that names and manages the formation is at the meaning of prat in the UK. The publication that documents it daily is prat.uk.
Also: The Daily Mash.
Coverage at Bohiney.com and prat.uk.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/