{"id":9890,"date":"2022-10-06T19:15:09","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T19:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=9890"},"modified":"2022-10-06T19:15:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T19:15:09","slug":"bow-legged-woman-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/bow-legged-woman-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Bow Legged Woman \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Have you come across several related but distinct phrases about \u201c<strong>bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d \u2014 and are you now wondering why you should or shouldn\u2019t go swimming with them? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of these phrases.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>Bowlegs (medically called genu varum) are legs with a deformity that makes them curved \u2014 like a bow. Bowlegs therefore resemble the shape of two brackets: ().<\/p>\n<p>Several related sayings have emerged:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201c<strong>Don\u2019t go swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d is a slightly vulgar phrase that essentially warns men to stay away from promiscuous women (who \u201copen their legs\u201d easily, hence the reference to bowlegs).<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<strong>Here\u2019s to swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d is a quote that comes from the movie Jaws, and that can be taken to have the opposite meaning \u2014 if you \u201cwant some\u201d, get it where you can.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>Are you curious how you might be able to put these sayings about bow legged women into action? Take a look at these examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cStay away from that one, son! Haven\u2019t you heard that thing about <strong>not swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYou bet I\u2019m planning to go swimmin\u2019 with plenty of <strong>bow legged women<\/strong>!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The phrases \u201c<strong>don\u2019t go swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d (which also appears as \u201c<strong>never go swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d) and \u201c<strong>here\u2019s to swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d are quite interesting to unpack.<\/p>\n<p>Readers should be aware that these phrases are <strong>vulgar<\/strong> in nature, however.<\/p>\n<p>In these sayings, \u201cbow legged women\u201d represent \u201cloose\u201d or promiscuous women, as bowlegs are perpetually \u201copen\u201d, in this case acting as a metaphor for the idea that such women would be interested in male advances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSwimming\u201d enters the picture simply because it loosely rhymes with \u201cwomen\u201d, and in this case acts as a metaphor for sex.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase is associated with a song, sung to the tune of <strong>Popeye<\/strong>, which included the line \u201cI\u2019m Popeye the sailor man, I likes to go swimmin\u2019 with bow legged women\u201d. This version likely got started after kids in the 1950s and \u201860s experimented with inappropriate jokes.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase \u201chere\u2019s to swimming with bow legged women\u201d appeared in the famous movie <strong><em>Jaws<\/em><\/strong>, thereby prolonging its existence in popular culture.<\/p>\n<p>Given the fact that \u201chere\u2019s to swimming with bow legged women\u201d, \u201cdon\u2019t go swimming with bow legged women\u201d, and related phrases do not have entries on <em>Urban Dictionary<\/em> would suggest that bow legged women are no longer talked about in this way, and that related sayings have now become archaic.<\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Bow Legged Woman<\/h2>\n<p>The \u201cbow legged women\u201d in the sayings about (not) swimming with them are promiscuous. Other terms for this concept include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Slut<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Hoe<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Skank<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Loose<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Easy<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Similar terms for promiscuous men tend to sound less negative, and include <strong>womanizer<\/strong>, <strong>himbo<\/strong> (from the combination \u201chim\u201d and \u201cbimbo\u201d), <strong>stud<\/strong>, and <strong>player<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>If you are looking for a gender-neutral term, you can just say that the person likes to \u201c<strong>sleep around<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Bow Legged Woman<\/h2>\n<p>The opposite of a \u201cbow legged women\u201d, meaning a derogatory word for a promiscuous woman, could be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Prude<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Frigid<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you take away the negative connotation, you can also simply say \u201cmonogamous\u201d, \u201cchoosy\u201d or \u201cpicky\u201d, or say that the woman has \u201chigh standards\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<p>The correct saying would be \u201c<strong>don\u2019t go swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d, \u201c<strong>never go swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d, or \u201c<strong>here\u2019s to swimming with bow legged women<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The bow legged women in question are ones that will \u201cspread their legs easily\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Bow Legged Woman Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>Since these phrases are now dated, most younger people will have no idea what bow legged women are or why you would or wouldn\u2019t go swimming with them.<\/p>\n<p>Related phrases can also be considered to be politically incorrect as bowlegs represent a disability.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Bow Legged Woman<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the phrases \u201cdon\u2019t go swimming with bow legged women\u201d or \u201chere\u2019s to swimming with bow legged women\u201d in sufficiently impolite company, when you know your audience will know what you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n<p>To call someone a bow legged woman is to call her easy or promiscuous \u2014 and that\u2019s not just rude, but also likely to be lost on most younger people, who simply won\u2019t know the phrase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Have you come across several related but distinct phrases about \u201cbow legged women\u201d \u2014 and are you now wondering why you should or shouldn\u2019t go swimming with them? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of these phrases. Meaning Bowlegs (medically called genu varum) are legs with a deformity that makes them curved \u2014 like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9890"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9892,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9890\/revisions\/9892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}