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How many people here can't swim?

  • 23-08-2011 11:33AM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭


    It came up in the "Who can't drive?" thread, and it got me thinking.

    I'm from Germany originally, and back there I never knew anyone who couldn't swim.
    Now I'm living in Ireland, and I've met at least 10 people so far who cannot swim. My husband is English, spent his childhood holidays by the sea, but can't swim.

    It's rather puzzling, seeing as both the UK and Ireland are islands, whereas Germany is mostly landlocked...

    So how many people here can't swim, and why?

    Can you swim? 554 votes

    Of course I can!
    0% 0 votes
    Nope, can't swim
    66% 369 votes
    I abhor water and will not get anywhere near it
    33% 185 votes


«13456

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,981 ✭✭✭ElleEm


    I can barely swim. I learnt in my early twenties. I used to go to the pool and beach as a child,but was too scared to learn. I love water but prefer to be able to feel the ground with my feet. On a side note- i only started driving at 25 too :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,559 ✭✭✭blaze1


    Cant understand people who are afraid of the water tbh...

    Do they not wash?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 329 ✭✭Magic Beans


    If you don't go near water you can't drown. I know two people who drowned, they were both swimmers. Fear is your friend.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,291 ✭✭✭wild_cat


    You will also notice that lots of Irish people that say that they can swim..... actually can't

    For what I see when I go to pools some Irish people think flapping about splashing everywhere creates a s "stroke".

    I was sent to swimming lessons at 4 years of age. I swam a few times a week up until the age of 15. One of the best things my mother could have ever done.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,291 ✭✭✭wild_cat


    If you don't go near water you can't drown. I know two people who drowned, they were both swimmers. Fear is your friend.

    Is it a myth that the old sailors never learned to swim as it would take them longer to drown if they got into trouble?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    If you don't go near water you can't drown. I know two people who drowned, they were both swimmers. Fear is your friend.

    Never cross a bridge, then, just to be on the safe side ;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,485 ✭✭✭✭Ickle Magoo


    Yep - glad I can too or I wouldn't have been able to do sailing or windsurfing or surfing or kayaking...like not learning to drive, not being able to swim limits what you can do in life - and where's the fun in that? :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭Elbow


    blaze1 wrote: »
    Cant understand people who are afraid of the water tbh...

    Do they not wash?

    It would be quite the achievement to drown in the shower ;)









    and before some smart arse says it, maybe if you passed out or something but not under normal showering conditions


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    wild_cat wrote: »
    You will also notice that lots of Irish people that say that they can swim..... actually can't

    For what I see when I go to pools some Irish people think flapping about splashing everywhere creates a s "stroke".

    I was sent to swimming lessons at 4 years of age. I swam a few times a week up until the age of 15. One of the best things my mother could have ever done.

    I learned it when I was 5... my parents considered it absolutely vital.

    I was wondering if the weather might be to blame... Germans tend to spend a lot of time in open-air public pools, or by river or lakes come summer. Just to be able to cool down occasionally. That's not really such a pressing need in Ireland, is it?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 329 ✭✭Magic Beans


    Shenshen wrote: »
    Never cross a bridge, then, just to be on the safe side ;)
    But if you must, watch out for trolls. Can't be too careful. ;)


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,538 ✭✭✭flutterflye


    I can only do the breast stroke.
    And I'm quite slow.
    Pain in the a$$ when the pool only has lanes because I annoy everyone by taking up the lane with my arms.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    Elbow wrote: »
    It would be quite the achievement to drown in the shower ;)









    and before some smart arse says it, maybe if you passed out or something but not under normal showering conditions

    Damn it... where is that picture of Hermes Conrad when you need it?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,808 ✭✭✭FatherLen


    i swim with the power of poseidon and the agility of ariel


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,097 ✭✭✭✭Kintarō Hattori


    I'm afraid I can't swim. I am the youngest in my family and I was molly coddled as a kid..... no lessons, no bicycle..... when the other boys in the family went for lessons and got bikes! As an adult I'll take up swimming lessons at some point, I just don't know when.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭Alter-Ego


    I sink like a fcuking rock!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,159 ✭✭✭✭phasers


    Apparently I can't swim according to Wild Cat. I move my arms and legs and move whilst in water. It seems that that's not good enough.

    My Mam can't swim, when she was young some guys held her under water and tried to drown her, she's been terrified ever since.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 248 ✭✭DanTheMan91


    I can swim but my father won't go anywhere near the water. I see a lot of people in the swimming pool who can't swim, they just sort of walk up and down the pool.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,672 ✭✭✭deman


    There has to an option somewhere between the obnoxious "Of course I can" and the second. I would have voted for "just about".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,363 ✭✭✭stampydmonkey


    Ya can swim alright. Have vague memories of being f"cked into a pool by my mother when I was well young. Thank God to be honest, for now I can f"ck myself off blackrock, hours of endless (bar the odd bellyflop:eek:) fun!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,291 ✭✭✭wild_cat


    Shenshen wrote: »
    I learned it when I was 5... my parents considered it absolutely vital.

    My Parents were of the same train of thought. My Mam learned to swim in her twenties and my Dad never learned even after many lessons. He has an awful fear of water to this day. We grew up beside a dangerous river and my siblings went fishing in it a lot so I think the only way my Mam could keep piece of mind was for all of us to be very strong swimmers in the pool and out door.

    Like Ickle Magoo's post highlights theres a lot of fun stuff you'll miss out on if you can't.

    My best friend growing up had an Australian Mum who like the OP was a bit horrified when she seen our lack of swimming skills as a nation.

    Do schools still do swimming lessons?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,494 ✭✭✭✭My name is URL


    No I can't swim.. even if my life depended on it I couldn't stay afloat in the water. I still go kayaking the odd time though.. the trick is to stay in the kayak.. and to wear a lifejacket :pac:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,291 ✭✭✭wild_cat


    phasers wrote: »
    Apparently I can't swim according to Wild Cat. I move my arms and legs and move whilst in water. It seems that that's not good enough.


    I'm an arsehole though so I wouldn't pay any attention. :)


  • Posts: 23,497 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Yep - glad I can too or I wouldn't have been able to do sailing or windsurfing or surfing or kayaking...like not learning to drive, not being able to swim limits what you can do in life - and where's the fun in that? :)

    I imagine non swimmers can still go kayaking and sailing, windsurfing and surfing would be a non runner alright.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,938 ✭✭✭mackg


    nah can't swim, grew up 10 minutes from the beach near a town with two swimming pools. i have no fear of the water or anything like that. Just never goit lessons or made a real effort to learn. A few friends just got home from travelling where they went snortkling and stuff, made it sound unreal, hope to be able to do it by the time I finish up in college next May.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,713 ✭✭✭✭Novella


    I can't swim well.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,200 ✭✭✭Mindkiller


    I can swim but I can't ride a bicycle. What I don't get is why the latter is considered more unnacceptable than the former. Swimming saves lives after all.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,150 ✭✭✭✭Malari


    deman wrote: »
    There has to an option somewhere between the obnoxious "Of course I can" and the second. I would have voted for "just about".

    Yeah, that's what I was thinking!

    I had lessons when I was a kid, so I can float and move around in the water, but I'm not a good swimmer.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,038 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    Being able to swim is the same as being able to read in my book


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,363 ✭✭✭stampydmonkey


    RoverJames wrote: »
    I imagine non swimmers can still go kayaking and sailing, windsurfing and surfing would be a non runner alright.

    Ya used to teach kayaking. People didnt have to be able to swim, just have to be "comfortable in the water", ie not panic and try drown everyone around them if they fell in. Quick capsize drill usually sorted out who was "comfortable" or not!:D


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,239 ✭✭✭✭WindSock


    It's mad how many Irish people can't swim, is it down to schools? It's a skill everyone should know. Throw the kiddies in to the sea.


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