# The Cardiff Kook

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cardiff-kook/592893>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 16, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cardiff-kook/592893 "2011-08-16T13:58:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cardiff-kook/592893/1 "2011-08-16T13:58:40Z")

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If you live in San Diego County, you’ve seen or at least heard of the Cardiff Kook. It’s a statue of a surfer, not a great surfer mind you, hence the name “kook.” A kook is a surfer who hasn’t arrived, one who’s always on the verge of falling or even drowning.

Cardiff has their [Kook](http://thecardiffkook.org/). This one, a statue. What city doesn’t have a cannon or a statue? But no city has a canon with a bikini, or being swallowed by a shark. The Kook has become a focal point of political, humor, best wishes, memorials, even promotional activity.

A nice way to pass a few minutes while you’re bored at work would be to view the abuse this poor Kook has[suffered](http://www.thecardiffkook.org/blog/blog/)at the hands of a society with too much time and an overactive imagination.

The city isn’t totally sold on the idea of these unauthorized modifications, yet they let them stand for a day or two before removing them.

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**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cardiff-kook/592893/2 "2011-08-16T14:29:52Z")

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That’s hilarious, I love it! Thanks for sharing.