I’m not trying to be rude, but how can you not know how to swim? Like not talking race or long distance, but just like… Keep your head above water and move forward? I feel like that’s just natural? Would love to be enlightened
It’s a bit of a class thing since you need to either have physical access to a swimmable body of water or have economic access to a pool and then have the free time to either teach your kids yourself or the money and free time to drop them off at swim lessons.
In the US, black Americans are the most likely to not know how to swim and poor Americans in general are more likely to not know how.
I can’t see how it’s a class thing, like you can live by water without it being beachfront property. Plenty of poor people live by the water all over the world and in the US. I guess I just don’t understand, but I thank you for trying to explain
i live in a dry place, there ain’t swimming depth bodies of water that aren’t artificial, and you’ve got to pay to swim at most of them. our rivers are pathetic and an adult would be hard pressed to drown in one so it’s also mostly useless to learn unless it’s for recreation
If you lack exposure to the water. It doesn’t come perfectly naturally, especially if you are a bit older and have developed a fear. It’s definitely easier to learn if you’re younger.
But that’s kinda what I mean, I don’t get the “learning” part. Swimming is like… Climbing a tree or digging or doing some other somewhat complicated but approachable task. You’re not gonna be great at it, but isn’t there an intuitive approach you have?
I’ve never ran Track & Field or polevaulted, but I’m sure I could kinda do the simplest of simple of those. Not great or competitively, but I would be able to do it. I feel like it would be that with swimming too - Youre not gonna be great, but you’re going to figure out a way to move yourself forward pretty intuitively
I learned to swim before I have memory but imagine it’s due to panicking or not knowing how to float efficiently meaning you tire out fast and take big gulps of water.
I never got a grasp of how to breathe for front crawl, because it is tiring and I always needed more air than I could get in between arm strokes. Maybe if I had better technique so I was less out of breath, then I wouldn’t need as much air and I’d figure it out, but whatever.
Swimming is pretty hard and tiring if you aren’t using proper form and trying to streamline yourself. If you can only swim 10m until you get tired then that’s basically the same as not knowing how to swim.
If I lived near a community pool maybe I’d try and learn/practice during lane swim times, but I don’t and gyms with pools are too expensive monthly.
I don’t float either, but if I kick my legs my head stays above water. That’s what I meant by “keep your head above water.”
never got a grasp of how to breathe for front crawl.
If you’re at the point of struggling to do a specific style, you’re past the point of not knowing how to swim at all.
If you can only swim 10m until you get tired then that’s basically the same as not knowing how to swim.
I guess, but I imagined when people say “I cannot swim” that they meant that they could not swim. That’s at least what I am asking about, hence why I specified “not long distance”. I can easily understand not being in physical shape to swim long distances, but that’s not the same as not at all being able to swim, which is what I am asking about.
If I can only swim a few metres before stopping, then I drown when I stop, then I can’t swim.
If I’m terrible at running, I can just stop and not have my lungs fill up with water.
That’s a pretty big difference. If you get chucked into the middle of an Olympic pool and aren’t 100% sure you could get out, then I’d say you can’t swim.
Usually when you talk about being able to swim it’s about safety in aquatic activities. My grandpa almost died swimming in a small river without much current because he wasn’t that good at swimming. He didn’t die, but because it was that close I’d say he didn’t know how to swim.
You wouldn’t say you can ride a bike if you fall after a few metres.
Different activities have different contexts for what “being able to do it” means.
If I said I can’t drive, that means I have no license and probably think there’s too high of a chance of something going wrong if I drove. That doesn’t mean that idk how to steer, hit the gas, or brake.
If I said I can’t walk that means I’m paralyzed.
Swimming is somewhere in between those two on the spectrum of “what does it mean when I say I can’t”.
I’d say that I am currently a bad/weak swimmer because I had some independent practice recently, but there was definitely a time where I’d say I didn’t know how to swim even though I had taken lessons at that point.
Yeah I understand (but thank you for making sure) and I guess I’m just placing it closer to walk than most others. If you told me you couldn’t climb trees I’d assume you were paralyzed too and swimming is in the same area in my view.
Yeah I know? How is that in any way an answer to my question of “how can people not know to swim?” If you can tread water you can swim.
I’m not saying it’s not difficult? I’m not asking “lmao what’s up with these pussies being too weak to swim for more than a few seconds?” I took pains to make it clear that’s not what I meant.
I didn’t really get a proper grasp on anything but the backstroke until I took adult swimming classes in my 20s.
It doesn’t help that not knowing how to swim doesn’t stop gym class from forcing you to participate. I drank a lot of chlorine during 2 weeks each year.
And it’s wild, I was an avid distance runner, biker, and tree/rock climber. Swimming just didn’t click for me for some reason.
I’m not trying to be rude, but how can you not know how to swim? Like not talking race or long distance, but just like… Keep your head above water and move forward? I feel like that’s just natural? Would love to be enlightened
It’s a bit of a class thing since you need to either have physical access to a swimmable body of water or have economic access to a pool and then have the free time to either teach your kids yourself or the money and free time to drop them off at swim lessons.
In the US, black Americans are the most likely to not know how to swim and poor Americans in general are more likely to not know how.
I can’t see how it’s a class thing, like you can live by water without it being beachfront property. Plenty of poor people live by the water all over the world and in the US. I guess I just don’t understand, but I thank you for trying to explain
i live in a dry place, there ain’t swimming depth bodies of water that aren’t artificial, and you’ve got to pay to swim at most of them. our rivers are pathetic and an adult would be hard pressed to drown in one so it’s also mostly useless to learn unless it’s for recreation
That sucks
Pollution.
is this a serious comment
If you lack exposure to the water. It doesn’t come perfectly naturally, especially if you are a bit older and have developed a fear. It’s definitely easier to learn if you’re younger.
But that’s kinda what I mean, I don’t get the “learning” part. Swimming is like… Climbing a tree or digging or doing some other somewhat complicated but approachable task. You’re not gonna be great at it, but isn’t there an intuitive approach you have?
I’ve never ran Track & Field or polevaulted, but I’m sure I could kinda do the simplest of simple of those. Not great or competitively, but I would be able to do it. I feel like it would be that with swimming too - Youre not gonna be great, but you’re going to figure out a way to move yourself forward pretty intuitively
I learned to swim before I have memory but imagine it’s due to panicking or not knowing how to float efficiently meaning you tire out fast and take big gulps of water.
Probably not dressed for swimming either. Shoes and draggy clothing definitely don’t help!
That makes sense
I never got a grasp of how to breathe for front crawl, because it is tiring and I always needed more air than I could get in between arm strokes. Maybe if I had better technique so I was less out of breath, then I wouldn’t need as much air and I’d figure it out, but whatever.
Swimming is pretty hard and tiring if you aren’t using proper form and trying to streamline yourself. If you can only swim 10m until you get tired then that’s basically the same as not knowing how to swim.
If I lived near a community pool maybe I’d try and learn/practice during lane swim times, but I don’t and gyms with pools are too expensive monthly.
I don’t float either, but if I kick my legs my head stays above water. That’s what I meant by “keep your head above water.”
If you’re at the point of struggling to do a specific style, you’re past the point of not knowing how to swim at all.
I guess, but I imagined when people say “I cannot swim” that they meant that they could not swim. That’s at least what I am asking about, hence why I specified “not long distance”. I can easily understand not being in physical shape to swim long distances, but that’s not the same as not at all being able to swim, which is what I am asking about.
If I can only swim a few metres before stopping, then I drown when I stop, then I can’t swim.
If I’m terrible at running, I can just stop and not have my lungs fill up with water.
That’s a pretty big difference. If you get chucked into the middle of an Olympic pool and aren’t 100% sure you could get out, then I’d say you can’t swim.
Usually when you talk about being able to swim it’s about safety in aquatic activities. My grandpa almost died swimming in a small river without much current because he wasn’t that good at swimming. He didn’t die, but because it was that close I’d say he didn’t know how to swim.
You wouldn’t say you can ride a bike if you fall after a few metres.
If that is what people mean when they say they cannot swim, then it makes sense.
I mean I guess I would? If you can pedal and give it momentum and keep your balance for a while, then you can ride a bike.
Different activities have different contexts for what “being able to do it” means.
If I said I can’t drive, that means I have no license and probably think there’s too high of a chance of something going wrong if I drove. That doesn’t mean that idk how to steer, hit the gas, or brake.
If I said I can’t walk that means I’m paralyzed.
Swimming is somewhere in between those two on the spectrum of “what does it mean when I say I can’t”.
I’d say that I am currently a bad/weak swimmer because I had some independent practice recently, but there was definitely a time where I’d say I didn’t know how to swim even though I had taken lessons at that point.
Yeah I understand (but thank you for making sure) and I guess I’m just placing it closer to walk than most others. If you told me you couldn’t climb trees I’d assume you were paralyzed too and swimming is in the same area in my view.
Go try to tread water for 5 minutes. It’s absolutely exhausting
Yeah I know? How is that in any way an answer to my question of “how can people not know to swim?” If you can tread water you can swim.
I’m not saying it’s not difficult? I’m not asking “lmao what’s up with these pussies being too weak to swim for more than a few seconds?” I took pains to make it clear that’s not what I meant.
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I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I can only guess that people panic
I didn’t really get a proper grasp on anything but the backstroke until I took adult swimming classes in my 20s.
It doesn’t help that not knowing how to swim doesn’t stop gym class from forcing you to participate. I drank a lot of chlorine during 2 weeks each year.
And it’s wild, I was an avid distance runner, biker, and tree/rock climber. Swimming just didn’t click for me for some reason.
Weird! Backstroke was the first thing I figured out too - and that’s sort of what I mean. Kinda just worked something out.
And yeah I remember the mouthfuls of chlorine :yea:
Thank you for this thread - I have had the same bafflement and the exchanges below were enlightening.
Thank you for this response. I feel like half the people responding haven’t read my question all the way through, so it’s been quite frustrating.