This article by Sarah Laskow, a writer at The Atlantic, tells the quirky story of how snowboarding got its name and what it was originally meant to be called, "snurfing". According to the article, "snurfing" was first founded by Sherman Poppen when he decided to experiment with two 36 inch skis. He rode them as a surfer would, combining the two into one large board. He got the hang of it and decided on the activity's name as "snurfing", because it was like surfing but with snow. "Snurfing" soon got popular with kids and quickly became a competitive winter sport. Many competitions were held, but everyone used Poppen's patented "Snurfer". It wasn't until a few years later that a man named Jake Burton Carpenter entered one of these competitions, but he decided to ride his own creation, the Burton Board. Poppen did not enforce his patent and therefore Carpenter was free to call his creation what he wanted.
Sarah Laskow, writes in a informative and mildly comedic way. She often quotes other sources to add authenticity to her claims. Her article is a bit misleading at first however, since it starts off by saying "In 1965--or maybe it was 1966, but we'll go with 1965, because most people do". This can be quite confusing and can make the reader question how accurate the article is.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/snowboarding-was-almost-called-snurfing/381308/
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