Speedos at french swimming pool

Just wear the speedos under the shorts. Can't argue with that really. Plus what the hell is the point of all the bacteria killing chemicals!

In France they should call them vitesse'os instead.

ProudDUB wrote: »

I honestly don't get this hygiene thing at all.

I used to live in 'Murica, Georgia & Florida specifically. There, it was very common for apt complexes to have a pool, or housing estates (what they call subdivisions) to have a community pool, or for people to have pool in their back gardens. People swimming was an every day thing there, not just something that you did on your holliers. And no one wore speedos. Ever. Board shorts were the norm, not speedos. Even on beaches, you'd never see the natives in Speedos, just board shorts, like these... http://www.pacsun.com/mens/board-shorts/

Over there, men wear shorts far more frequently than they do on this side of the pond. Yet you'd never see one of them jumping into a pool wearing the shorts that they had been wearing prior to going swimming. They have the cop on to put a proper pair of swim trunks on. Is it that French men (or other European tourists) just don't have that element of cop on, or an in bred sense of personal hygiene, that it has to be laid out for them by the Speedo police? That's effin' rank if it is !

How do you know what hygiene routine people follow though ?
Of course French people have a sense of hygiene, that's why they would rather be sure that no one jumping in the pool has bad hygiene.

There's an element of trust I guess.
If you trust people to have good hygiene, then you don't need to impose such a rule, but I guess after years when all and any clothing was allowed in pools, French municipalités (councils) have decided that you could not trust some people to have flawless hygiene.

What about Ireland ? Say you have a scorching summer, it's 30+ degrees outside, the usual parading around of muffin tops and wife beater vests, with shorts. You go to a 25x25 m public pool, and they're all there too. Do you trust that they changed shorts before hopping into the pool ? That they change shorts every day even ? I deal with teenagers every day in my job, and I can tell you for a fact (smell) that some have a funny notion of hygiene if at all.

It's a small thing really, don't understand why it's such a huge deal to some on here.

Don't know if there's an official rule in Italy, but I have commonly seen lots and lots of men with speedos there too. They must feel pretty at ease with their bodies

Mountainsandh wrote: »

How do you know what hygiene routine people follow though ?
Of course French people have a sense of hygiene, that's why they would rather be sure that no one jumping in the pool has bad hygiene.

There's an element of trust I guess.
If you trust people to have good hygiene, then you don't need to impose such a rule, but I guess after years when all and any clothing was allowed in pools, French municipalités (councils) have decided that you could not trust some people to have flawless hygiene.

What about Ireland ? Say you have a scorching summer, it's 30+ degrees outside, the usual parading around of muffin tops and wife beater vests, with shorts. You go to a 25x25 m public pool, and they're all there too. Do you trust that they changed shorts before hopping into the pool ? That they change shorts every day even ? I deal with teenagers every day in my job, and I can tell you for a fact (smell) that some have a funny notion of hygiene if at all.

It's a small thing really, don't understand why it's such a huge deal to some on here.

Don't know if there's an official rule in Italy, but I have commonly seen lots and lots of men with speedos there too. They must feel pretty at ease with their bodies

No I don't know the personal hygiene routine of every single American male. But I do know that they would consider it appropriate to change into bathing attire before they go swimming. I don't see the specific benefit of that that bathing attire being a pair of Speedos, versus a pair of board shorts. If you spent 18 hours slaving away on a hot sweaty buildings site prior to going swimming, and your privates are a cess pool of bacteria, won't those bacteria transfer into the water when you get wet, regardless of what kind of swim attire you have on?

Maybe the Yanks are just more hygenic in general & don't need these rules. I've seen **** go down in Irish changing rooms in pools and gyms, that you'd never, ever see in the US ones. As for young people over there, they start at an earlier age. For example, you'd never see US high schools without shower facilities for kids to shower off in after PE class, football practice etc etc. How many of us here went to schools that had proper shower facilities? That's right...we just wiped the sweat & muck off with a towel, if were lucky to have one, and went on to our next class. :rolleyes:

Hold the Cheez Whiz wrote: »

What people do in their own pools is their business, but I used to lifeguard at outdoor community pools in the US in the summer and they aren't the most hygienic places, especially when it is very hot and sunny and the chlorine burns off quickly.



Most of the kids in my complex walked down to the pool in their board shorts, horsed around, got in the pool, horsed around some more, went to the store for snacks, came back and hopped in the pool again...teenage boys seem to live in board shorts in the summer.

Dunno what you mean by horse around. If you mean doing non water based activities, but are still in relative proximity to the water, then yeah they would. But you wouldn't really see them jumping in their cars and going to the mall or to a baseball game, in the same gear that they wore to the pool, or vice versa. Board short type shorts are practically a uniform for US males in the summer. It doesn't mean that every single US male only owns one pairs and they live, eat, sleep, swim and work in the one pair.

As for French males at a French camp sites & their average day... go for a dip.......sit around and have a few beers, go for a dip....go back to the tent and grill some burgers...go for a dip...lay out in the sun for a while...go for a dip...go back to the tent for some beers and sangria...go for a dip....catch some rays...go for a dip.....does that count as 'horsing around'?

Would they change out of their Speedos and put on regular shorts, every single time that they are out of the water? I doubt it.


Anyway, I'm still waiting for answer to my question about bacteria and germs spreading, once their host is in the water, regardless of what he is wearing. While I am all for wearing dedicated swim attire in a pool, I still don't see the specific benefit of that attire being Speedos exclusively and not some other kind of shorts.

Banana Hammocks are the way to go.