Can you swim?

[The Brain]

There's no way me and my sister couldn't swim in our family... we did the Red Cross kiddie swimming very early and my sister was actually the first woman in the Navy to pass the Rescue Swimmers Qualifications for 1999.

Yikes. The water is pretty cold in January.

[merithyn]

I'd like to know how far the people who can "swim like a fish" can indeed swim?

By that phrase, I meant that they easily frolic in the deep end, can swim various strokes, and have no problem swimming out to the dock from the beach at the local pond/lake. (I grew up in Iowa, for heaven's sake. No one had to swim a mile to do anything. We didn't even have a single lake that I knew of that was a mile across when I was a kid.)

[saskganesh]

it seems we have a very low bar for "swimming like a fish."

of course, a number of people here sound like they can't walk a mile, so I guess it goes to show.

[Ed Anger]

it seems we have a very low bar for "swimming like a fish."

of course, a number of people here sound like they can't walk a mile, so I guess it goes to show.

Why walk when you can ride?

[ulmont]

it seems we have a very low bar for "swimming like a fish."

:shrug:  There wasn't anything else above "enough to keep my head above water."

[DGuller]

it seems we have a very low bar for "swimming like a fish."

of course, a number of people here sound like they can't walk a mile, so I guess it goes to show.

I can walk to my car, what more do I need?

[garbon]

it seems we have a very low bar for "swimming like a fish."

Well when people use the phrase "he/she swims like a fish" they generally are just describing that a person loves to swim, not that the individual has great prowess.

[garbon]

:shrug:  There wasn't anything else above "enough to keep my head above water."

And that's simply treading, not swimming.

[dps]

I too find it odd that there are many people who don't know how to swim, unless they're handicapped or something.  And I grew up in West Virginia.  We didn't have pools in the schools (at least not primary or secondary schools, with maybe a couple of exceptions;  colleges were a different matter), nor are there a lot of Y's or other public pools, but still pretty much everyone I grew up with knew how to swim.

[DGuller]

I too find it odd that there are many people who don't know how to swim, unless they're handicapped or something.  And I grew up in West Virginia.  We didn't have pools in the schools (at least not primary or secondary schools, with maybe a couple of exceptions;  colleges were a different matter), nor are there a lot of Y's or other public pools, but still pretty much everyone I grew up with knew how to swim.

The reason I can't swim is because I was extremely skinny when I was a child in Ukraine, and the gym teacher was very bad at conveying the basics of propelling yourself in water.  That led to lack of confidence, and lack of desire, to swim later in life.

[Valdemar]

Like a fish.. though my stamina will be lower now than it used to... and I never got to learn the butterfly

Denmark have compulsory swim classes at school.. at least for now.. but with one of the longest coastlines compared to size it would be obvious for most danes to learn to swim

V

[Valdemar]

it seems we have a very low bar for "swimming like a fish."

:shrug:  There wasn't anything else above "enough to keep my head above water."

My thoughts exactly

V

[saskganesh]

"swim like a fish" would imply adapting to water like a fish. so basic floundering really shouldn't count.

bad use of metaphor. bad poll.

[Caliga]

The reason I can't swim is because I was extremely skinny when I was a child in Ukraine, and the gym teacher was very bad at conveying the basics of propelling yourself in water.  That led to lack of confidence, and lack of desire, to swim later in life.

Well, hopefully you've managed to fatten yourself up since coming to America.

[Caliga]

I'd like to know how far the people who can "swim like a fish" can indeed swim?

I recently swam in the lake by my town and it was the first time I've been swimming since I was in Mexico in 2005 or so.  The next time I go swimming in the lake I'll see how far I can go and report back.