# Quick! How many cement trucks will I need to bury this guy alive in the pool? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 11, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075 "2005-07-11T23:02:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075/21 "2005-07-12T13:15:14Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > An Olympic pool is 25 meters wide. I can’t find any info on how such pools are layed out (the FINA regulations only give minimum depths). Let’s fudge and assume the “deep end” is the rear 1/4 of the 50m long pool. There really is no such thing as an “olympic sized” pool. People are free to use that term as they wish, and they do. I’ve lived in places that say they have an “olympic sized” pool, and they are lucky to have it 25 yards long. The sized pool they swim at in the [Olympics](http://www.fina.org/facilityrules_3.html) is 50mx25mx2m. Generally those pools are the same 2 meter depth because they do not do diving in the same pool. That doesn’t mean that they are not deeper. I’d say you’d have a hard time finding a 50 meter pool as they are huge and most people wouldn’t just give them up to bury someone. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075/22 "2005-07-12T13:25:56Z")
> [@Edward The Head](#): > > There really is no such thing as an “olympic sized” pool. I think most people would consider an “olympic sized pool” to be one that meets the Olympic standards that you quoted immediately after this; e.g., 50m x 25m by the minimum depth specified. The phrase can certainly be used incorrectly to refer to smaller pools, though. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075/23 "2005-07-12T13:54:04Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > I think most people would consider an “olympic sized pool” to be one that meets the Olympic standards that you quoted immediately after this; e.g., 50m x 25m by the minimum depth specified. The phrase can certainly be used incorrectly to refer to smaller pools, though. Except that most people wouldn’t know how big a 50 meter pool is. And I’d say most people have never seen one in person before either. I’m not even sure if I’ve ever seen a true olympic pool before as they are supposed to be 25 meters wide, the largest I’ve seen is 25 yards wide. In the past four plus years I’ve been a Masters swimmer I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term olympic pool, only long course or 50 meter. IMO I don’t think the average person would think of a 50 meter pool, just the one they normally swim in. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075/24 "2005-07-12T14:10:56Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Scenario: our poor hero has been ruthlessly drugged in a bar and awakens in chains in the bottom of a dilapidated Olympic sized pool. Unless the pool is crucial to the story, a basement or a ditch – and dirt with maybe a concrete shell – would be more plausible. The pool full of concrete is a dead giveaway. If they’re filling in a basement of an old building before pouring a new foundation, they could conceivably put him inside a “cage” of rebar before pouring concrete into a plywood form (thus sealing him inside a pillar of concrete). ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075/25 "2005-07-12T17:41:29Z")
Thanks again for all the imput, folks. This is a trunk script idea I’ve dusted off recently after stumbling across it in my Big File Drawer Of Tragically Unfinished Stories. The idea of a [dilapidated indoor pool](http://www.darrellpeck.com/travel/1998-east-europe/images/256-indoor-pool.jpg), like the one in the link, is more visually appealing than a ditch or basement. Still, I agree a basement is more plausible and possibly more interesting visually, too. If I decide to change it to a basement, I’ll acknowledge your suggestion by renaming one of the mob guys **“Mr. Jurph.”** With your consent, of course. **Shirley Ujest.** Funnily enough, they ambushed our hero in a strip club called Jelly Shots. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075/26 "2005-07-12T18:47:43Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > **Shirley Ujest.** Funnily enough, they ambushed our hero in a strip club called Jelly Shots. w00t!1! What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075/27 "2005-07-12T19:09:18Z")
One more detail you might want to consider is that wet cement is very caustic. If your hero is submerged in the stuff he’s going to come out looking pretty raw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-how-many-cement-trucks-will-i-need-to-bury-this-guy-alive-in-the-pool/312075.md?page=1)