[Closed] What is it with the French and budgie smugglers...

A mate many years back simply took off his boardies and jumped in naked....

Had this last year at a pool. It’s so the dirty Brits don’t go in wearing shorts they’ve had on all day.

Hygiene apparently, but I think it's more likely they just want to have a laugh at the expense of foreigners.

When did the British stop wearing swimming trunks and start wearing shorts?

Many many years ago, unless your after a record shorts are fine.

Its cleaner, hygiene, simple.

When in (rome) France....

Its cleaner, hygiene, simple.

And now for the sciencey bit?

Everyone else in the pool has trunks on so there's not really a problem with it.

I have some that are like long boxers so my white british thighs don't look too ridiculous!!

aero for the pool !

It's ****ing bullshit. The pool's full of germ killing chemicals. The French are weird. I remember my wife just about had a hernia laughing at me wearing some. She took a picture and I demanded it to be deleted..I had to chase her for the camera round the campsite in my wee trunks. 😆😂🤣

I'm a fan of Budgie smugglers for swimming. Feels much better than baggies with all that wet material flapping around.

I'd were them over here, but Mrs taxi won't be seen dead with me if I do 🙁

Brazilians are similar they love "sungas" or as we call them "speedos"

Don't see a problem with it myself  I have a couple of pairs of lycra shorts that are similar in length to a pair of boxer shorts . If anyone decides to have a giggle at my expense then at least I've made someones day (+ I know its a grower not a shower 😀 ) . They go under a wet suit better for surf duties too.

+1 On the wet suit thing.

I'm in France right now, and have wondered the same thing.  Marin has it, above - the thinking is that you're unlikely to wear speedos (of any length - mine are as long as my cycling short liners) for the day, then jump in the pool, so it's cleaner.

The thinking is flawed, of course, since no-one (so far) has checked how well I wiped my bum, or washed my hands....

It’s nothing to do with hygiene it’s to do with the amount of water Bermuda shorts hold and remove from the pool each time you exit.

I assume that the same folk who don't like swimming trunks avoid lycra when cycling? It's just that the French don't have the same hang ups about physical appearance and fashion that many Brits seem to have.

Think yourself lucky. We have just had to wear swimming caps in Aosta. However the bold headed men with bushy beards were OK without them

only the Brits seem to have an issue with them . Once you get used to it , it is much better in a pool .

From what I’ve read it’s because the French don’t like to pull pubes out of the water filter - proper swimming shorts have the mess liner to catch the little blighters, board shorts don’t and they’d rather not check.

Also, even more coyly they’d rather not have big fat geezers like me with their kit off so it’s a way of putting them off.

I largely ignore them, having Speedo branded shorts is sometimes enough to let them turn a blind eye.

Question - does the jammer pass muster?

This was me last night (in my dreams).

Try swimming in Iceland (not Blue Lagoon, but a proper Icelandic pool for locals). They are VERY particular about making sure you've had a shower before you get in the pool. And not a cursory 0.5 secs under the water like you did at school but a proper thorough wash. The custom is to walk to the shower from the change area naked (some of these places are unisex- might have been an issue as the school kid above) with your swimmers in your hand then a full soapy scrub of your pits and groin before kitting up. The local fellow swimmers or attendant will be quick to send you back if they don't think you were thorough enough. Upside is the water is virtually chemical free - so nice in comparison to the typical British cesspool.

What’s the problem, this is stw, everyone of us has a body like a Greek god, no?

I assume that the same folk who don’t like swimming trunks avoid lycra when cycling?

Yep. Endura shorts all the way. I love me some pockets.

I was told recently that it stops certain groups of people going to swimming pools because culturally they don't like tight clothing.

I don’t think there’s any scientific research done on this topic (I googled it and all that it threw up was a load of pics of French blokes in speedos, which on reflection wasn’t that bad)

And i’m sorry to hear that some of you are adverse to wearing them, I don’t know the reasons obviously but on the face of it it sounds like you are not happy about the shape (and maybe colour)of your bodies.

Free the mind, it’s only a body.. it’s the attitude that counts..

Just go for a 60's trunk rather than a Speedo style.  Nothing to hide, we are all fit and in shape cyclists on this forum aren't we?

Always wear tight speedo shorts in the uk and overseas. Prefer them to be honest. But their country, their rules. I wouldn't complain about driving on the 'wrong' side of the road (even though that is very wrong!)

Very few people wear traditional budgie smugglers, mostly the tight Speedo shorts. No one enforced the rule during our recent French camping trip.

I believe the larger swimming trunk as modelled above are called euro boys!

Despite the barracking I receive from my wife and son I wear Speedos, the same pair I've worn for the last 20 years at least. There's no reason to change them, they are in fine condition, I still have a 32" waist and my belly doesn't hang over the top and I have cyclist's thighs, which the Speedos show off to their best as they follow the inguinal crease between thigh and groin. I would also hate the sensation of flappy wet material around my thighs.

Jekkly +1.  It’s an aesthetic preference that some French pools justify using any old bullshit.  Never, ever been asked to shower before using any French pool - so it’s not about cleanliness.  Not once.  Never been asked to wear speedos at any French water park either - just hotel and resort pools.

At one resort, the lifeguard saw me pull clean board shorts out of a bag and over speedos and still had an issue with it...  Luckily he spoke English and I was able to explain that it wasn’t the non-existent dirt from my machine-fresh board shorts that he should worry about it - he should be more concerned with “Fromage au nob” from the great unwashed...  To be fair, he actually laughed!  😁

It’s just that the French don’t have the same hang ups about physical appearance and fashion that many Brits seem to have.

You have been to France...?  😉

When in France I wear my fluoro pink budgie smugglers, all the other  men,women and children are wearing lycra swimming costumes, equality innit?

And i’m sorry to hear that some of you are adverse to wearing them, I don’t know the reasons obviously but on the face of it it sounds like you are not happy about the shape (and maybe colour)of your bodies.

Shape - not right now.  Pretty unhappy with it.

Colour - I’m mixed race, so I’m a bit browner naturally!  😉

Apart from all the derision in the UK, what is actually wrong with budgie smugglers? It's like armpit hair on girls (and more recently on more intimate parts) just seems to be something to turn your nose up because that's the thing to do.

+1 for swimming in budgies & I'd even go as far as saying swimming naked trumps budgies too

Apart from all the derision in the UK, what is actually wrong with budgie smugglers?

They suit a very small range of body types.

It is a 'thing', and so you do it. I look stunning* in my longer trunk lycra bad boys.

I also had a colleague a few years back ski-ing in France, who had an invite from the trio of Dutch girls staying in the same hotel to go for a swim one night - except all he had was board shorts. Cue that decision of refusing, having to *rent* (gip) or buy budgie smugglers, or see if the hotel really would put up with a French approach to life... He has still never revealed what happened, or what he revealed...

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*mrs_oab may disagree

I have some long Speedos I use in France - they go to about 2 inches above the knee.

It may help to explain the French obsession with correct clothing if I tell you that once, when I lived in Paris and it snowed, I overheard an elderly lady saying to her friend in shocked tones: "...and do you know, people are even walking around the streets in sports attire!"

They suit a very small range of body types.

Why does that matter for swimming or sitting about in the sun.  I don't expect you to be walking around the shops or going to work in them

Never thought anything of it in 70s and 80s in UK (was only a kid anyway), until suddenly shorts were the thing and speedo stuff were so unfashionable inviting giggling from others. Weird stuff fashion.

Not that I've been in a public swimming pool for years. Swimming in chlorinated piss isn't my thing.

If you don't like it, don't go to France. More for me.

I am not sure they'd miss you all that much either.

Never thought anything of it in 70s and 80s in UK (was only a kid anyway), until suddenly shorts were the thing and speedo stuff were so unfashionable inviting giggling from others. Weird stuff fashion.

It was that creepy guy at the pool who had peeled the "S" off.

He ruined it for everyone.

The ladies and gents by the side of the Allier river seemed to not require any bathing costumes...