[General] life saver/muffin top

[Silverobama]

Hi.

I was on the way with my cousin to a new swimming pool. Here's part of our conversation.

Silver: Bob, where's your life saver? (Bob doesn't know how to swim.)
Bob: No need. I have my muffin top. (I laughed when he said this but it turned out that the pool isn't deep at all.)

I wonder if my italic sentences (the whole conversation is) are natural.

 

[Silverobama]

I don't know what the modern expression for buoyancy aids is, but I am pretty sure it's not life saver.

It may be a sign of my advancing age, but I had no idea what muffin tops were. My wife assures me that it's a common expression.

Your wife assured you it's a common expression. Do you mean that "muffin top" is a common expression?

Life saver means "swimming ring". I still don't know which one is common. "Muffin top", accoring to a Chinese teacher, means the fat around one's waist. :lol:

 

[abaka]

When we go canoeing, we wear life jackets or life vests. The health cabal insists a similar vest-like thing they call a PFD (a personal flotation device) is not a life-jacket, but that's an ugly piece of specialized jargon.

The ring worn around the chest is a life preserver. We called it one when I took an introductory aquatic lifesaving course around 1980.

I had to look up muffin top. I wish I had not.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Muffin top" is very common in the UK (and sadly, so are muffin tops!)

I use "rubber ring" for the donut-shaped inflatable that goes round one's middle, "armbands" for what other people call "water wings" and "life jacket" for the gilet-type thing. The first two are really only used by kids who are learning to swim. The last would be worn by people taking part in some kind of aquatic sporting activity or hobby.

 

[Silverobama]

Is my new attempt natural?

Silver: Bob, where's your life preserver?
Bob: No need. I have my muffin top.

 

[jutfrank]

I've always referred to those orange things meant to save people who have fallen in water as life rings. I've heard people also call them life buoys.

I imagine in this case, though, the thing in question might more appropriately be described as an inflatable ring, because what we're talking about are the cheap plastic things that you blow up and use in swimming pools or in the sea.

I've never heard muffin tops.

 

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, the sturdy round thing you throw to someone who might be drowning is called a "life belt". They are commonly provided near beaches and are there year-round. They are to be used only in an emergency.

 

[abaka]

"Life rings", "life belts", and "life savers" would all be understood in Canada. In fact, we've got a candy shaped as small, one-centimetre mint doughnuts, called, that's right, LifeSavers. I think it's an American import, but I'm not sure.

I don't think I've heard "life buoys".

 

[abaka]

Is my new attempt natural?

Silver: Bob, where's your life preserver?
Bob: No need. I have my muffin top.

A life preserver is a muffin top, so the dialogue makes no sense. Perhaps:

Silver: Bob, where's your muffin top?
Bob: No need. I have my life jacket.

 

[emsr2d2]

With all due respect, abaka, I think you're missing the joke. A muffin top, here, is a large roll of fat around the waist. Bob is saying that he doesn't need an artificial flotation device because that roll of fat (that looks like a rubber ring) acts as one.

 

[abaka]

I guess I just don't do muffin tops.

 

[Silverobama]

Thanks a lot, everyone. I've found some other context for these phrases. It's very helpful and it's happy to learn new things from you.

 

[abaka]

I'm glad you are happy to learn new things from us. (Even if we don't get your jokes.)

PS. "It's happy" should be rephrased.