British English Q&A for Harry Potter Fandom

I've always called them swimming trunks.

Older generations might refer to both male and female swimming gear as 'bathing suits'.

We'd call it a thong too. I must say, they're not that common a sight in British swimming pools or at the seaside. At least, not the ones I go to.

At least, not the ones you go to twice!

We call them swimming trunks. But that refers to nearly every style of them - from the tiny speedo briefs to the half-way down the leg shorts, with lycra or without. I've seen some men go swimming in proper shorts too, just with an inside pants-effort made of holey nylon to keep the bits in place.

We'd call the second example a thong, but you'd be very unlikely to see either sex wearing something like that on a beach or at a swimming pool in Britain. Thongs tend to refer to underwear, rather than swimwear. But in underwear terms, the male version might sometimes be called a G-string.

We've called the first swimming trunks for as long as I can remember, and for as long as my husband can remember, too, which is considerably longer :oD

The second, the average British male would, I fear, call: NO WAY, JOSÉ! Though he might -- might -- be persuaded to wear a pair while on holiday in some exotic location (but only if it was dark and there were no cameras within 5 miles). Of course, I might just know a lot of very staid and boring men.

Definitely 'swimming trunks', no matter what the style - in normal speech, they'd just be called 'trunks'. And, as other people have said, it's pretty rare you'll see a man who isn't a dedicated swimmer in speedos, let alone a posing pouch-type thong. It's not even a sexuality thing: more a question of public decency, what.

I'd think of the term 'g-string' as referring to a specifically female form of bikini bottoms/underwear (pretty much the same as a thong), but there isn't a more suitable word for them. Other than posing pouch, which, as the name suggests, sure ain't for swimming in. Perhaps I've just not been going to the right beaches.

I'm with the others on both points - I swim regularly, and I've never seen any of the men at the pool I use in a thong. Mostly they wear the speedo variety or full shorts. British men are so dull.

I've got to say, I have seen the second version in a swimming pool, but it was a swimming pool at a fitness club I attended in the gay village of Manchester. And I'd call it a "posing pouch" and that was pretty much what it got used for, too.

This has to be the kindest list I've ever seen, thank you all so much for the good advice, and the quick response. I'll be able to post my story very much more quickly now that I'm comfortable with that scene.

And regarding whether a british man WOULD wear the thong, rest assured, he's only using it to tease someone, he's not really planning to wear it. I don't want to give away too much too soon, but the characters in my story are not ones from the HP universe who'd be comfortable with that kind of public, ahem, *display*. But I hope it'll make a fun scene!

Thanks again for the help.