[Sirius Lee]

I had to check to see if it was The Onion.

I don't know why that is, but it's true. My girlfriend isn't even African American - she's Ethiopian and she grew up in a very wealthy family who had a pool and lived right on the beach and still can't swim for squat.

We swamp yankees learned by being launched off thirty feed of rope swing and being given the choice of drowning or swimming back to shore. It's probably considered a crime nowadays.

[LibertarianLiz]

We swamp yankees learned by being launched off thirty feed of rope swing

My late father told me his first swimming lesson was his uncle taking him to the deep end and throwing him in, while he shouted, SWIM!

As it happens, my father taught me to ride a bike by putting me on one, pushed me down the drive and yelled PEDAL!

[ladyjane]

launched off thirty feed of rope swing and being given the choice of drowning or swimming back to shore.

That's how I learned to ride a bike. Top of the hill, get pushed downhill, go as far as you can and then crash.

[Defiant]

What’s a “swamp yankee”? A carpetbagger who moved to Louisiana? Or someone from south Jersey?