A classic flip (in which you start with both feet parallel facing forwards, rotated 90° to your normal direction of travel on the board) instantly followed by a revert.

A good M-80 combines the classic flip and revert into one smooth motion, and will usually be accomplished by landing the magic flip in switch on the front wheels and switching into regular stance from there. Because the skateboarder has to spin a 90° body varial as part of the trick, he can use this momentum to carry the revert on landing.

Madonna

Although many people think a Madonna is simply a one footed nosegrab where the front foot is taken off to the heelside, it is specifically a frontside one footed lien to tail on vert - meaning you HAVE to go frontside and HAVE to smack your tail off the coping on the way down. Interestingly, a backside one is called a Sean Penn - named after the former husband of Madonna.

Magic Flip

Back in the day, what we now know as a classic flip was known as a kickflip, and what we now know as a kickflip was called a magic flip. In other words, a magic flip is another name for a modern kickflip.

Manual

A balancing trick involving rolling across an obstacle on the back wheels only. The name 'manual' is now often used by skaters when they are doing wheelies - the same trick, but on flat ground. Technically, it's only a manual when done across an obstacle (for example, a manual pad) but this has been largely forgotten - not something that particularly bothers me, because the distinction is meaningless and I prefer the name manual myself, especially when you think about the differences between a manual and wheelie in BMX riding.

See also nosemanual.

McTwist

A vert trick consisting of a 540° rotation with a backflip. Named after it's inventor, Mike Mcgill.

Melon

A noseboned backside grab (gripping the heelside of the board with your back hand). The closer to the tail the grab is the more stylish the melon grab is.

Meloncollie

Another name for a melon grab. Some people (including myself) think the longer name, including as it does the word 'ollie', refers to the trick being performed on flatground after an ollie as opposed to in or off a ramp, but I can't verify this right now.

Method Air

A Method is basically a Melon grab but more "tweaked". You pull the deck upwards during the grab, into your back, to look like you are kneeling mid-air. Apparantly the name comes from the inventor, Neil Blender, who originally invented it as a "method" for getting higher on a backside air.

Miller Flip

A 360° frontside handplant to fakie on vert.

Mongo Foot

The problem afflicting some skateboarders who push off with their back foot on the skateboard instead of their front foot. Such skaters are known as mongo footed and feel uncomfortable or unsafe pushing with their front foot on the board. As a result, mongo footed skateboarders don't have as much time to prepare themselves for a trick after pushing off because they have to shuffle their feet around a lot after getting on the board.

Monkey Flip

Flipping the skateboard by gripping the heelside long edge (the rails) with either hand and simultaneously jumping and flicking your hand up. This is a difficult trick for a couple of reasons - firstly, it's fairly awkward to grip the heel edge of skateboard as this involves putting your hand between your legs. Secondly, it's a nightmare trying to jump upwards from something you're trying to hold onto without ripping your arm out of it's socket.

Any skater pulling off a monkey flip kind of looks like a stereotypical ape jumping around, hence the name.

Monsterwalk

A monsterwalk is a chain of 180° pivots that alternate in direction, meaning they look slightly like an old b-movie monster walking, hence the name.

MTB

An acronym for mountainboarding - a sport developed from skateboarding also known as all-terrain boarding or ATB. Mountainboards consist of a flexible base plate connected at each end to an axle and two stonking huge all terrain wheels, and you can buy them at this extreme sports clothing and equipment site.

Murder Flip

Another name for a forward flip.

Mute

A grab trick similar to an indy grab, but with the front hand grabbing instead of the rear hand.

Named after it's inventor, Natas Kaupas, the Natas spin entails spinning around on the top of a pole (or anything else that sticks up vertically) in what can only be described as a boardslide position. Usually ollied into. If you need to see an example, track down the 1980's Santa Cruz video, "Streets on Fire", where Natas himself does one on a fire hydrant.

Natural Stance

Unless you have ambidextrous feet you will have a natural stance. Quite simply this is the way you feel most comfortable standing on a skateboard - left foot forward (regular footed) or right foot forward (goofyfoot). Natural stance isn't necessarily determined by your footedness either - I'm right footed so by all rights I should be a regular footed skater, but I'm a goofyfoot.

Nightmare Flip

A varial double kickflip; the skateboard does two full flips and a 180° varial rotation. While 'nightmare flip' refers to the varial double kickflip, as far as I know there is no special name for a varial double heelflip.

Nightmayer

A 540° body varial. Named after Danny Mayer, the skater who invented it.

No Comply

1. Similar to a boneless except you don't use your hand to lift the skateboard after stepping off the board. Bizarelly, after popping the skateboard with your back foot you then use your back knee to knock the board forward and level before jumping on it off of your front foot.

2. Any trick that doesn't require your front foot can be done as a no comply as well - for example a no comply shuvit, a no comply pressure flip or a no comply fingerflip. All involve stepping off the skateboard with your front foot and then using that foot to get airborne while your back foot or hands do something funky with the skateboard.

Nollie

Nollie has two meanings in skateboarding...

1. Nollie stance. When you are in your natural stance but standing at the front of the skateboard instead of the back, with your front foot on the nose and your back foot near the middle of the board, you are said to be 'in nollie'.

2. An ollie performed off the nose of the skateboard while in nollie stance.

Nollies and any other trick done in nollie stance are very difficult. Even riding around in nollie stance is quite arduous. Only switch stance is more difficult.

Nollie Flip

A kickflip performed in nollie stance. The legs perform the opposite function they normally would to do a kickflip, and the trick is executed off the nose of the board.

Nose

Part of a skateboard - the front kicktail. Note that if you turn the board round the nose isn't at the back all of a sudden - the nose is always at the front (although most skateboarders have an end they prefer as the nose and an end they prefer as the tail).

Nosebone

Boning the front leg, pushing the nose of the skateboard forwards in the process.

Nosegrab

A grab trick performed by holding the nose of the skateboard with the front hand.

Nosegrind

A grind trick performed with the skateboard paralel to the obstacle and balancing on the front truck only.

Nosehook Impossible

An impossible performed by hooking the front foot under the nose of the skateboard and using it to pull the board over and around the back foot. When done rolling, it's often done fakie with a 180° spin (straight ones are very awkward when rolling), meaning rolling nosehooks often get confused with half cab impossibles, most notably in the Tony Hawk's games.

Noseslide

A slide on the underside of the nose. The skateboard is at right angles to the obstacle with the nose pressed onto it, sliding along with the rest of the board hanging out into the air.

Nosestall

A simple stall on the underside of the nose. The skateboard is at right angles to the obstacle with the nose pressed onto it, with the rest of the board hanging out into the air.

In this article about ollying I use the nosestall as a stepping stone towards ollying on the move.

Nosewheelie

A manual/wheelie balanced on the front wheels instead of the back wheels. 'Nosewheelie' may also be used.

Novacane

180° ollie into a switch feeble grind, with a 180° out to land regular.

Simply how to get airborn - see this article on ollies for a full trick guide on this, one of the basic tricks of modern day skateboarding. Most modern street tricks are based off the ollie, so much so that it isn't really even thought of as a trick anymore, more a 'utility'. However, while it's important to learn, there are plenty of other funky things you can do on a skateboard without being able to ollie.

The ollie was originally invented for vert skating by a guy called Alan Ollie Gefland, but it wasn't long before Rodney Mullen had created a flatland version which went on to become the trick you see skateboarders all over the world practicing day in and day out. The highest recorded ollie is by Danny Wainwright, a whopping 44.6", or just over 113 cm, a video of which can be found here.

Ollie North

Another name for a one foot ollie, possibly introduced into the lingo by the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of computer games.

Ollie Shuvit

Another name for a pop shuvit, not quite correct since although a pop shuvit is an airborne shuvit, you don't ollie in order to get airborne when doing one.

If you ollie then shuvit, this is known as a late flip shuvit, or simply a late shuvit.

One Foot

A number of tricks can be performed or landed with only one foot on the skateboard, in which case the trick is prefixed or suffixed with 'one foot' or 'one footed'. The other foot is simply held up during the trick. There are dozens of skateboarding tricks that can be performed one footed, here are some examples:

One foot ollies are special cases which aren't actually performed with only one foot.

One Foot Ollie

An ollie that is executed like a kickflip except the foot flick is directly up the skateboard and not to the heelside. Because your front foot ends up in front of the skateboard in mid air rather than on it, it's known as a one foot ollie.

Outside Boardslide

A slide where the tail and nose of the skateboard slide on two different objects. This is also referred to as a 'nailslide' (Nose/tAIL slide).

Overcrook

A crooked grind where the skateboard crosses the obstacle before connecting the front truck and nose to it. In effect, the skateboarder ollies over the obstacle before turning the nose in to land the crooked grind. More difficult than a crooked because your momentum is taking you away from the rail not into it where it must connect for the grind.