How to Use 'Swimming' to Deal with Life's Situations

How to Use "Swimming" to Deal with Life's Situations

And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.

Swimming is a great exercise for staying healthy. But it can also be a life saving skill and help to keep you from drowning.

However, in some bodies of water, swimming might be difficult. For example, in very deep, choppy or fast moving water swimming can be hard and even dangerous.

Choppy water has many small, fast, close waves usually created by wind.

Water currents and tides can be very strong. It is easier to swim with them and not so easy to swim against them.

On today’s show, we talk about several English expressions that use “swim” to describe different ways to face a situation -- especially danger, difficulty, or any hardship.

Let’s start with swimming in rivers. Let’s say you jump in a river and swim downstream. That means you are swimming with the current of the water. This makes swimming easier and faster.

So, the expression to swim downstream means using the easy way to get something done.

However, when you swim upstream, you have to fight the flow of the water. In some rivers or other bodies of water, swimming upstream is nearly impossible.

As an expression, swimming upstream means you take a more difficult path to do something. You make it harder for yourself.

Here’s an example:

Dealing with money is not my strong suit. In fact, last year I was drowning in debt. Every month when bills arrived, I felt like I was swimming upstream. So I went to a financial advisor. Now I’m free of debt and staying on a budget.

Now, if you are swimming in the ocean, sea, or other large body of water, you may be fighting the tide. Swimming against the tide is another expression. It means you are fighting against very powerful forces. And odds are you will not come out the winner.

Swimming with the tide or current, is much easier. Again, this means you have taken an easier path. You have chosen an easier way to do something.

All of these expressions can be used another way. They can also mean that you are going with or against popular opinions or viewpoints.

If you are swimming with the tide or current or swimming downstream, you act the same way as the majority of others. You are going with the flow. That is another common expression – to go with the flow. People who go with the flow are easy-going. They take the popular path without protest.

However, swimming upstream and swimming against the tide or current mean the opposite. You are rejecting a popular idea, behavior, or opinion. You are acting against the way the majority of people are acting.

Swimming against the tide is harder. In a sense, you are an outsider or outcast. You do not have the support of the current or of other people.

Here is an example. If all of your friends are getting married and moving to quiet areas, you may feel the urge to swim with the tide and do the same. Or you could swim against the tide and stay in your small apartment in the center of a busy city with lots of bars and restaurants nearby.

And that’s all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time … I’m Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

drown -v. to suffocate in a liquid and especially in water :

choppy -adj. rough with small waves

tide -n. the alternate rising and falling of the surface of the ocean that occurs twice a day and is caused by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon occurring unequally on different parts of the earth

strong suit -n. something in which one excels

opposite -adj. being the other of a matching or contrasting pair : being in a position to oppose or cancel out

outsider -n. a person who does not belong to a particular group

outcast -n. one that is cast out or refused acceptance (as by society)

Do you have a similar expression in your language? Let us know in the comments. Our comment policy is here. Or send us an email at LearningEnglish@voanews.com.