# is it pointless to use the acronyms SWIM/SWIY?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-pointless-to-use-the-acronyms-swim-swiy/615052>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 7, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-pointless-to-use-the-acronyms-swim-swiy/615052 "2012-03-07T18:01:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-pointless-to-use-the-acronyms-swim-swiy/615052/21 "2016-08-30T04:38:40Z")

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Once again, I’ve been duped into thinking **Eve** is back. Damn.

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**Author:** ![Debillw3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Debillw3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debillw3)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-pointless-to-use-the-acronyms-swim-swiy/615052/22 "2016-08-30T04:49:06Z")

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> [@Meatros](#):
>
> Even if you blatantly admitted to something, I don’t think that would be enough to convict you, would it? It might be a starting point, but I don’t think it’s enough.

It’s not. You can go so far as to walk into a police station and confess to a crime, but it likely won’t make it if your word is the only evidence they have. Remember John Mark Karr?

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**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-pointless-to-use-the-acronyms-swim-swiy/615052/23 "2016-08-30T11:19:25Z")

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I appreciate this is a four year old thread, but I have to say, I’ve never heard of those acronyms before - the closest I’m aware of is that classic addendum “asking for a friend”, when everyone’s well aware that’s not the case.

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**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-pointless-to-use-the-acronyms-swim-swiy/615052/24 "2016-08-30T18:20:29Z")

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Forget about the acronyms … there’s more than one reason to not post certain confessions on an internet message board. Let’s just say that you are applying for a job and your prospective employer asks you for your social media handles. (“Really?”, I hear you say … why, yes, that is a perfectly legitimate request these days.) You give them your Facebook handle, they read a few posts, and then come across one from a friend of yours: “Hey, msgbrdusr549 … I thought what you said on that other forum about smoking crack was hilarious!”

Now, your prospective employer goes to the other forum and starts searching for you, and comes across all sorts of posts that would indicate you are not quite the kind of person they want representing their company.

SWIM/SWIY are just as dumb as saying, “_A friend of mine_ … smokes crack in dumpsters with prostitutes.”

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