Swim Slang

I still maintain that use of the word "lap" as a noun labels you as a competitive swimming tyro. It's tantamount to wearing your goggles around your neck. Pshaw. Not knowing the real meaning of a lap means you are a tri-geek, noodler, or perhaps from a country to the north.

leech: swimmer who leave less than 5 seconds and drafts off the swimmer ahead of him, often touching their toes, but refuses to go ahead.... "Dude, you're totally leeching off me. Either back up or go" "No he is not does work hard. He's a total leech"

I still maintain that use of the word "lap" as a noun labels you as a competitive swimming tyro. It's tantamount to wearing your goggles around your neck. In that vein, how many times have you had the following conversations with your non-swim friends: Friend - How many miles did you swim today? Me - I swam 4,000 yards Friend - How many miles is that? Me - I have no idea Friend - How many laps is that? Me - 200 Friend - Is that 200 there and back or 200 one way? Me - Wanna get a beer?

lawnchair - some backstrokers with poor body position appear to be lounging in lawnchairs. They swim backstroke uphill and bend their hips and knees all the time. You don't want to hear your backstroke described this way. If you do, you need to straighten out your body and start breaking the surface of the water with your feet when you kick. sack of potatoes - there are different strategies for how to dive off the blocks. Most people figure out that the outstretched hands should enter first and the feet should enter last. There are also the spazzes who gyrate in mid-air and end up with their hands and feet entering at the same time and their rear ends entering last, often accompanied by a huge noise. At any Masters meet, you are probably going to see a few bellyflops, perfectly flat entries that are perhaps the result of a foot slipping on the block. On rare occasions though, you get to watch a sack of potatoes dive into the water. It looks like someone threw a bag of potatoes off the starting block. These poor folks' feet hit the water first, and their hands and head enter the water last. They do not move in mid-air. And they do it the same way every time. Is it fear? I don't know. Whenever I see it, I feel amused and sad at the same time. zone zero - ok, you've probably never heard this one. I invented it and have never actally used the term in conversation. It describes lap swimmers who swim with their heads out of the water, their hair dry, and no elevated pulse rate. They are not working on their Vo2max, their anaerobic threshold, or their aerobic threshold. They do not disturb the water. They are barely moving. It's kind of impressive in a weird way, exercising without ever entering Zone 1.

... hog - one that is in the middle always ... Perhaps the same meaning of a Portuguese slang whose translation to English would be "lane cork". :)

Does anyone know the expression logs? In Germany swimmers call the people at pools logs who just swim this old lady breaststroke(with their head above the water) while blocking a lane. The problem at German public pools is that they don't have any lanes(slow lane, medium lane, fast lane). People basically swim back and forth with no rules which makes swimming almost impossible.

gridge - a few years ago, someone on this forum typo'd the word grudge as gridge but everyone loved it so it stuck. it sounds like it should be a word, so now it is. it is a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb all rolled into one, usable in any sentence provided that you're talking about a grudge match of some sort. "So I entered the 100 free in next week's meet. Any gridges out there?" "You still owe me a beer from the last gridge!" "Watch out for That Guy, he's always gridging people." "She handed me a beer after the race. I asked why and it turns out that she had declared a secret gridge against me, but I won. So... if... she had won, she would have drank the beer herself, and I never would have known about it?" How did it possibly take us until now to remember to put gridge in this thread? I blame myself.

How did it possibly take us until now to remember to put gridge in this thread? I blame myself. I blame you also :angel:

red dot special - after your third or fourth shave at a multi-day championship meet, you are a red dot special. Use some moisturizer after the meet is over. babysitter - age group swim coach who does not really know anything about swimming technique. Babysitters are fine for the little kids, but they are comically useless with older, more experienced swimmers.

In that vein, how many times have you had the following conversations with your non-swim friends: Friend - How many miles did you swim today? Me - I swam 4,000 yards Friend - How many miles is that? Me - I have no idea Friend - How many laps is that? Me - 200 Friend - Is that 200 there and back or 200 one way? Me - Wanna get a beer? your math confuses me, but i like your style