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Reader question: Please explain "sink or swim" in this sentence: "Nobody really taught us anything. We had to find our own way. Basically, it was sink or swim." My comments: If a swim coach throws a new comer head first into the deep end of the pool, the new swim learner will literally sink or swim, or at least learn what it means to sink or swim. I mean, no certified swim coach will do a thing like that in this day and age, throwing a swim learner into the pool directly, let alone at the deep end, leaving him or her to their own devices. Leaving them to sink or swim, i.e. to swim to the bank by their own effort or sink to the bottom. And, possibly, drown. It is comforting to know that swim coaches won't do such a horrible thing, isn't it? But in the old days, at least where I came from, swim coaches often bragged about how they threw new swimmers into the pool. Actually they talked about it every chance they get. To anyone who'd listen. To be fair, none of the disciples drowned and the only reason they went about their horrible teaching method is, I must say, how effective it was, no matter how extreme it sounded. Extreme and cruel, but the coaches were really talking about how practice makes perfect. How to know about the way of water, you have to immerse yourself in it. You cannot learn how to swim on land no matter how much you understand about the concept of swimming. | 
