Leaving 5 Seconds

Title: Leaving 5 Seconds Behind
Informant: Sierra Levene, 19, Female.Sierra grew up in Wyoming and currently attends Dartmouth College where she is a freshman. She just began swimming competitively on the Dartmouth College Club swim team this year. When interviewed, Sierra discussed various aspects of swimming that were difficult to understand when she first joined the swim team. This included etiquette and proper behavior at swim meets, as well as phrases and expressions that make up a unique “language of swimming.”
Customary: Etiquette
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Social / Cultural Context: In practice, swimmers will leave 5 seconds behind the swimmer in front of them. This is not an estimation- since training in swimming is interval based, it is important to leave 5 seconds to maintain your own set of intervals.
(Audio Only)
Transcript: Definitely leaving 5 seconds”
Informant’s comments: Sierra emphasized the importance of leaving 5 seconds behind a person so that you do not swim right behind them “on their feet” and annoy them
Collector’s comments: 5 seconds seemed to be the universal magic number for how long you should wait before going after the person in front of you.
Tags/Keywords: Etiquette, 5 Seconds

Dartmouth Folklore Archive