A Question..

[frosty the snowman]

Having learnt to dive in the days when men were men and women just made the sandwiches, I used to hear terms such as 'frogmen' and 'skin diver' a lot but these terms are not used much nowadays. Yesterday I chanced across a copy of 'The wreck detectives' by Kendall Mcdonald which was published in 1972 which I remember reading in my youth but never owned so I bought it. It's a great read but the skin diver references left me puzzled. I know why frogmen were so called but I've never known how skin diving got its name. any ideas?

[Jim Shaw]

Could be totally wrong, but I thought that Frogmen were named after the frog kick, and that Skin divers were named after the kids who freedived in just there trunks, for stuff in warm waters,

but of course, I could be ( and probably am ) talking Ba******

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by frosty the snowman

Having learnt to dive in the days when men were men and women just made the sandwiches, I used to hear terms such as 'frogmen' and 'skin diver' a lot but these terms are not used much nowadays. Yesterday I chanced across a copy of 'The wreck detectives' by Kendall Mcdonald which was published in 1972 which I remember reading in my youth but never owned so I bought it. It's a great read but the skin diver references left me puzzled. I know why frogmen were so called but I've never known how skin diving got its name. any ideas?

I'm guessing somewhat here Frosty... I think 'Frogman' came from the unique look of the early attack swimmers of WW II (Italian first and later British). The Italian name for 'diver' is I believe 'Rana' which also means 'frog'. Rana-frog, diver-frog-rana-man - get the picture?

Skin-diver? I believe this term has an American origin - possibly again from WW II when US UDT (underwater demolition team) divers dressed in no more than shorts, facemask and fins to do their work in the Pacific theatre of war. They (the Yanks) still hang-on to the crazy short idea even though - as we all know - that bare legs around any u/w obstruction aint much use - their call!

Best regards,

Berko

[triplefin]

words are always interesting - all i could find after a quick search

Frogman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Skindiving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[divingdingo]

Originally Posted by triplefin

Frogman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Skindiving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

well it must be the truth it's on wikipedia ! almost as reliable as the local drunkard !

maybe that's a litle unfair. soz

dingo

[A. Berk]

For one of the original 'Frogmen' look-up Valerio Borghese - the Black Prince -he gave the British some greif during WW II. Such was Borghese's status he was even a hero of the first British u/w attack unit who posted photo's of their 'enemy' in their trainning wing.

[triplefin]

Originally Posted by divingdingo

maybe that's a litle unfair. soz

dingo

why post it then?
apart from slagging off my little offering I dont see you contributing anything positive

[divingdingo]

Originally Posted by triplefin

why post it then?
apart from slagging off my little offering I dont see you contributing anything positive

yeah sorry triplefin, i didn't mean anything by it. i was told the other day never to trust wikipidia that's all, cus anyone could update it with anything.

sorry.

personaly frogmen are frogmen cus the fins look very much like frogs feet and skin divers are skindivers cus in general it was probably concieved in the tropics where there is no need for a wetsuit.

i think your reasons are better than mine.

dingo

[Snash]

Not sure of the origins of "skindivers", but it never stops me bringing out one of my favourite jokes.


Obiviously more of an aural joke than a written one

Q. How do you circumsize a whale?



A. Send down four skin-divers.


Never fails to amuse me though (being a bear of little brain).

Snash

[frosty the snowman]

Well done snash and shame on the rest of you. We had to wait nine posts before that joke made an appearance.