Words terms & public perception

Over here on this side of the pond, how should I advertise or tell my
friends (yet to meet) that I fly something like an aircraft without an
engine running?
If I say Glider, I often hear "Oh, you fly hang gliders?"
If I say I fly sailplanes, I hear "What is that?"
If I say I am going soaring, I hear "what is that?"
If I say I'm going gliding, I hear "You mean hang gliding?"

Back before many of you were aware of anything other than mother, I
saw and flew in a thing called a glider. (An LK10A) of wwII fame. A
couple of well publicised fatal accidents shut down all gliding around
St. Louis. On to airplanes, but with a memory of a beautiful thing
called "Yankee Doodle Do".
Red White and Blue. Gull wings. Randy Chapman was the pilot.

On to the west coast...I tried to find where gliders were flown. No
one seemed to know. After about a year, I found out that I lived less
than two miles from "THE SOARING SOCIETY OF AMERICA" in Santa Monica,
California.

Maybe you can understand words and have a suggestion. Fred