zompist bboard

How good are Almean humans at swimming? Do they need to learn it in primary school like we do? Or can they do it instinctively the first time they jump into water, however old they are?

And do aristocratic females wear clothes (like corsets and heavy skirts) that would hamper them in the water?

Do they need to learn it in primary school like we do?

You learn it in primary school? Wow, that's a good idea. We never did. I wish we would have had to learn to swim(I don't know how).

blank stare wrote:

Do they need to learn it in primary school like we do?

You learn it in primary school? Wow, that's a good idea. We never did. I wish we would have had to learn to swim(I don't know how).

In the UK at least it's common for primary schools to take children swimming. In secondary school (11+) they usually don't unless you join up for it.

in italy you can do it at secondary school, but it's an optional

On a related note, I'm longing for a swim now. It's been so long since I've been swimming, and I used to love it....

ok, this is the greek style:
your father takes you when you're, say, 6-7 y.o., and throws you into the sea. If you don't get drowned, it's ok. it's that simple

chris_notts wrote:On a related note, I'm longing for a swim now. It's been so long since I've been swimming, and I used to love it....

Heh..as I live like 1 metre from a lake I can swim anytime I want. Of course it's quite cold unless it's summer/autumn...

blank stare wrote:

Do they need to learn it in primary school like we do?

You learn it in primary school? Wow, that's a good idea. We never did. I wish we would have had to learn to swim(I don't know how).

I learned to swim in the children's nursery, when I was 3-4 years old.

chris-gr wrote:ok, this is the greek style:
your father takes you when you're, say, 6-7 y.o., and throws you into the sea. If you don't get drowned, it's ok. it's that simple

i am glad i aint greek, i wouldnt be typing this if i were... and how many children die every year from that?

Mornche Geddick wrote:How good are Almean humans at swimming? Do they need to learn it in primary school like we do? Or can they do it instinctively the first time they jump into water, however old they are?

It's instinct plus familiarity. Almean human children have a reflex that encourages them to get horizontal when they're immersed in water. This helps a lot to avoid panic and sinking. But breathing and locomotion techniques still have to be learned.

Almean humans prefer to live near water, so children will normally have the opportunity to swim. If they don't, then they have no special advantages as adults. Still, it's unlikely that (as seems to have been common on earth) a shipful of sailors wouldn't know how to swim.

And do aristocratic females wear clothes (like corsets and heavy skirts) that would hamper them in the water?

Not at all; in fact, among themselves, nobles may swim in the nude. They don't like to do so in front of the other classes, however.

chris_notts wrote:In the UK at least it's common for primary schools to take children swimming. In secondary school (11+) they usually don't unless you join up for it.

The UK kicks ass!

Trebor wrote:

chris-gr wrote:ok, this is the greek style:
your father takes you when you're, say, 6-7 y.o., and throws you into the sea. If you don't get drowned, it's ok. it's that simple

i am glad i aint greek, i wouldnt be typing this if i were... and how many children die every year from that?

I don't think they throw blind kids in the water, Treb.

blackhand wrote:

Trebor wrote:

chris-gr wrote:ok, this is the greek style:
your father takes you when you're, say, 6-7 y.o., and throws you into the sea. If you don't get drowned, it's ok. it's that simple

i am glad i aint greek, i wouldnt be typing this if i were... and how many children die every year from that?

I don't think they throw blind kids in the water, Treb.

i dont think Treb was blind at 6, but maybe my timeline is wrong...

brandrinn wrote:i dont think Treb was blind at 6, but maybe my timeline is wrong...

yeah, thats correct. ive been at least partially blind my whole life, but became totally at about age nine.

anyway... i actually was not thinking of that when i wrote that-- just how i cant swim...

blank stare wrote:

Do they need to learn it in primary school like we do?

You learn it in primary school? Wow, that's a good idea. We never did. I wish we would have had to learn to swim(I don't know how).

My children learnt in primary school. I didn't. At 14, I was the only boy in my school who couldn't swim. I looked in a dictionary at pictures of someone swimming, went to the swimming-pool with a friend, put on a life-belt, and learnt swimming in two afternoons. You see, it's easy!

It seems I learned the "hard way".

I was at Myrtle Beach, on the shore, probably gazing to the ocean. I was two or three years old. And, by myself, I jumped in the see. It seems I didn't have problem swimming, even though my parents came quite quickly. The funniest part though is unrelated to swimming : my mom yelled my name on the beach (which is Ugo). But... Hurricane Hugo had passed the year before in Myrtle Beach. All were strangely looking to my mom CUTE!

All this to say it seems to have been a natural feat to me to be able to swim. In fact, my first lesson I took at 6 years old, and I couldn't stand class, as my swimming manner is to go into the water and swim

I can't swim. My parents sent me to lessons when I was a child. I couldn't learn. In elementary school, we had lessons in Grade 4 and Grade 5. I couldn't learn. I can't swim.

As a result, I don't see what the fun of beaches is.

Our school actually had it's own pool - well, a half-share between the infants' and the middle school. It was a sort of big tub about twenty feet long and six feet wide, surrounded by a wooden fence. Because it was outdoors, so we could only use it in the summer.

The secondary school I went to also shared a pool - with a boys school just across the road. I don't think we had many opportunities to use it. We did have an after-school swimming club, which I joined, but most of the time we used the Ludwig-Gutman Sports Centre pool.

I've practiced swimming for seven years. Here, everyone has to go to swimming classes in school from six to fifteen.

vegfarandi wrote:I've practiced swimming for seven years. Here, everyone has to go to swimming classes in school from six to fifteen.

Just in case the island sets on fire and you have no other method of escape?

i learned to swim in middle school, but not well. i dont think ive been in a body of water bigger than a bathtub for five years or so. if i tried to swim now, i'd probably barely be able to make any headway.

doesnt really bother me... im not a "water" kind of guy.

Our school's got a swimming pool, and every one from the first grade up has to take swimming lessons. I also took swimming lessons during the summer every year since about kindergarten to sixth grade (I have a very anxious mother). I'm okay at swimming, but I don't especially like it (probably because I'm so pasty ).

Trebor wrote:

chris-gr wrote:ok, this is the greek style:
your father takes you when you're, say, 6-7 y.o., and throws you into the sea. If you don't get drowned, it's ok. it's that simple

i am glad i aint greek, i wouldnt be typing this if i were... and how many children die every year from that?

well, suffice it to say that for the past 10 yrs greek population has been steadily decreasing --which is not necessarily a bad thing btw, i feel that this is the real reason why ancient greeks had to have a sea-god (poseidon): they'd wiped out the whole 5-10 age group.

chris-gr wrote: well, suffice it to say that for the past 10 yrs greek population has been steadily decreasing --which is not necessarily a bad thing

Are you sure that's due to your countrymen drowning their children?

btw, i feel that this is the real reason why ancient greeks had to have a sea-god (poseidon): they'd wiped out the whole 5-10 age group.

If I remember correctly, didn't the ancient greeks also chain maidens to rocks to appease sea monsters? I'm pretty sure it happened in at least one greek myth... Sacrificing all the young women to sea monsters must've caused them a bit of a population problem too.

chris_notts wrote:
"If I remember correctly, didn't the ancient greeks also chain maidens to rocks to appease sea monsters? I'm pretty sure it happened in at least one greek myth... Sacrificing all the young women to sea monsters must've caused them a bit of a population problem too."

Well, I've got news for you! The ancient greeks chained young maidens to rocks, because these b*tches were too fat and ungly. And had a moustache too. (Modern Greeks should consider this solution too.) Afterall, many anc. greeks would appreciate more the... err... romantic company of a young boy (which would have no moustache anyway), than that of a girl with romantic blue eyes and bushy brows. Oh, and btw, ancient greeks invented so many things, couldn't they invent some depilation method too?