lifestyle, swing, swinger
Who taught: Jake
Swing (source: www.impawards.com)
To be honest, today’s post is one of the most shocking expressions I have ever learned. Lifestyle…. What does this word mean to you? My dictionary says it is “a manner of living that reflects the person’s values and attitudes.” And… that is exactly what I thought of whenever I hear the word, lifestyle.
OK, how about “swing”? What does it mean? Here, I have a few different definitions.
1. Verb : move in a curve or arc
2. Noun : mechanical device used as a plaything to support someone swinging back and forth. (I am sure you used to enjoy this when you were young. Maybe, you still like it?)
3. Noun : a style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s; flowing rhythms but less complex than later styles of jazz
So far so good. Nothing special, right? Now here is another one.
engage freely in promiscuous sex, often with the husband or wife of one’s friends
Knowing this definition, you would easily find out what “swinger” means? In plain English, it is simply “a person who dates/sleeps with multiple people at the same time.” When I first heard that expression from Jake, I had no idea about what it means. I thought it is basically a baseball player who swings a lot. In fact, this is one of the definitions of swinger but I doubt people would use the word in that context. In many times, people use “swinger” to mean someone who sleeps with many people at the same time. Now, going back to my original question, what is up with the word, lifestyle?
Well, another way of saying you are a swinger is, “I am in the lifestyle.” It is more like a way of describing the culture of swingers. Interesting thing I found from Urban Dictionary is that you can be in the lifestyle but that does not mean that you are actually swapping your wives or husbands. If you actually do that, then you should say, “I am active in the lifestyle.”
So, today’s lesson: You want to be careful with the word swing and lifestyle. For example, you mean to say, “I like swing,” but you make a mistake to say, “I like to swing.” Oops! It could be awkward. What do you think, my American friends?
I learned what a swinger is via an episode of That ’70s Show in which one of Red’s friends invites he and his wife to a Swing Party. Red and Kitty go, and when Red’s friend starts hitting on Kitty, Red confronts him and asks for an explanation. The friend tells him, and Red and Kitty have the eureka moment as they realize that it was a Swinger Party, not a Swing Dancing Party.
On their way out, Kitty says something like, “I wondered why there wasn’t a dance floor.”
See also: “key party”
I did go to a group blind date when I was in college, and we used keys to find out partners. Boys put any kind of keys in a bowl and then girls blindly select to find out her partner. But, there is no implication of having sex afterwards unless I did not catch that point because I was too innocent.
Yeah, you’re doing it wrong: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_party#Key_party
When I visit Korea, I will let my friends know how it should be done. 🙂 Again, it is possible that I was the only one who was doing it wrong. 🙂
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I watched the episode of 70’s show! It was so funny! While ago it became a huge moral issue in korea, too. But to me, it sounds completely insane.
The more I read your entries, the less I have confidence in my using English. ^^; You never fail to surprise me!
Hey Emmie,
Honestly, I thought my English is pretty decent when I was in Korea. But, as I live longer here in the U.S., I feel that my English will be a learning process for the rest of my life here. But, it is OK because life itself is a learning process and that is what makes me motivated and try to learn continuously. It is fun to learn, right?