# What do you wear swimming, men? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2024, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220 "2024-04-13T04:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/1 "2024-04-13T04:16:51Z")
So packing up I tried on an old pair for size and told my wife “these swim trunks fit well”; she argued that the right phrase is “bathing suit.” She’s originally from New Jersey and I’m a Chicago boy. Maybe it’s regional. So what do you call them? And where are you from? _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/1))_ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/2 "2024-04-13T04:25:59Z")
I would call them swim trunks or swimming trunks. “Bathing suit” suggests to me something women wear. I’m from Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/3 "2024-04-13T04:32:15Z")
Maybe it’s because I’m from Southern California but I have more names for swimwear than the Inuit have for snow. It all depends on what they look like. Few of the words in the poll are actually synonyms. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/4 "2024-04-13T04:45:15Z")
Swim trunks. Shaped like boxers, not a Speedo or something that looks like briefs. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/5 "2024-04-13T05:31:13Z")
Exactly this. I said “board shorts” because that’s what my current pair are, but I think my generic is “bathing suit.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/6 "2024-04-13T07:19:52Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > She’s originally from New Jersey and I’m a Chicago boy. Maybe it’s regional. I think it is. My English comes from my New York/New Jersey-born parents, and they called them “bathing suits” - a catch-all term for all swimwear, male and female. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/7 "2024-04-13T07:32:29Z")
I prefer to swim naked, but in situations where that is inappropriate, I use “board shorts”. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/8 "2024-04-13T07:44:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > My English comes from my New York/New Jersey-born parents, and they called them “bathing suits” - a catch-all term for all swimwear, male and female. Yep! East coast parents are cultured, and teach ya good. Mine are from the Chesapeake Bay area, and when going to the pool or the beach, they dressed us kids in our “bathing suits”(both male or female.) But later I met folks from the Midwest states. They wore “swim suits”. Uncultured heathens. Next question: has anybody changed their terminology over time? Maybe wore a bathing suit as a kid, but when you got older switched to trunks? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/9 "2024-04-13T08:25:57Z")
A baggy pair of shorts is a “bathing suit”. If it’s skintight it’s a “swimsuit”. “Boardshorts” (one word) are either flashy bathing suits worn by rich douchebags or tight shorts worn by girls. These are the terms as I understood them as an Elder Millennial in San Diego who lived a couple of blocks from the beach in the late '80s and early '90s. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/10 "2024-04-13T08:27:45Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Maybe it’s because I’m from Southern California but I have more names for swimwear than the Inuit have for snow. It all depends on what they look like. Few of the words in the poll are actually synonyms Yeah, this. The ones from the poll that work for me are board shorts and jammers. I have both, and they’re different things. I would never use either term to refer to swimwear more generally. I’m not positive, but I think swim shorts would be my general word _maybe_ swimsuit. Bathing suit makes me think of a women’s one piece, though I’d understand it as referring to swimwear generally if that’s how it was used. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/11 "2024-04-13T09:17:01Z")
A bathing suit\* is what I call the loose shorts with quick-drying fabric and a liner that I wear, regardless of their length. I’m from Tennessee. \*often pronounced “baby soup,” using my niece’s preschool pronunciation ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/12 "2024-04-13T09:28:49Z")
I’d say swimming trunks or swimming shorts based on whether they were the budgy-smuggling kind, or the kind for chilling on the beach. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/13 "2024-04-13T09:42:59Z")
Bathing suit. Born and raised in Philly. Also, I’m 63, so maybe the local youngsters use a different term now? If so, they’re wrong. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/14 "2024-04-13T10:00:56Z")
Iirc… Men - swimming trunks Women - swimming costume (or suit) Victorians - bathing costume (or suit) Young people - cossie. I’m from the UK. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/15 "2024-04-13T11:30:06Z")
I call them swim trunks, but in reality I just wear shorts to the beach because I don’t go into the water. I _love_ the beach, but I stay under my umbrella. Likewise, I love boating but prefer to stay dry except for my feet/ankles. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/16 "2024-04-13T11:52:50Z")
Growing up in New Zealand they were called Togs, but over time I evolved into calling it a Bathing Suit. Not that I wear anything myself, as I can’t swim. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/17 "2024-04-13T13:25:09Z")
Canada: swim suit or bathing suit, but never trunks. I picked swim suit first in the poll without realising that multiple choices were not possible. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/18 "2024-04-13T13:51:35Z")
To me, “bathing suit” sounds old-fashioned and euphemistic (and, as @markn_1 said in the first reply, feminine). I wear swim trunks to swim in, not to bathe in. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/19 "2024-04-13T13:53:49Z")
Other: quick dry hiking shorts and long-sleeved rash guard. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220/20 "2024-04-13T14:18:50Z")
> [@Kimble](#): > > “baby soup,” > [@Mijin](#): > > budgy-smuggling These should be added to the poll 😆 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wear-swimming-men/1000220.md?page=2)