- Title: “On the Top/ On the Bottom”- Club Swimming
- 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.”
- Verbal: Phrase
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Social / Cultural Context:This expression is often used at practice by a coach to instruct his swimmers when to leave for a set in practice. Practices in competitive swimming are interval based, so it is important that everyone starts the set at the same time.
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(Audio Only)
- Transcript: “Leave on the top and leave on the bottom” Is that like a general thing because I was like what the…? Like the first day when I got in there and they were like “leave on the top and I was like ‘what?’ and they were just like ‘Leave on the top, you know’ and I was like ‘No, I don’t know.’ And they were like ‘top of the clock, like zero,’ and I was like ‘oh, ok’.
- Informant’s comments: Sierra explained that these terms were very foreign to her when she first started swimming, but now she uses them frequently at practice.
- Collector’s comments: This phrase is used in all levels of competitive swimming as training is interval based.
- Tags/Keywords: Phrase
“On The Top/ On the Bottom”
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