<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>Recently a friend of mine from West Asia used a book to help him feel more at home while speaking English here in the United States. The book he is using is "Dictionary of 1000 Russian 1000 English Idioms" by T.V. Parkhavovich. One of the idioms used was "I'm in the swim" meaning that one knows something that is happening because someone has kept him/her up to date on things. I told him that in the Southwest we use "In the loop" or "In the circle" but I have never heard "Be in the swim." He said that in Russia they use this expression a lot. </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>Q: Does anyone have references on Standard English spoken around the world and how standard is standard? Has anyone heard of this expression before?</STRONG></DIV>
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<DIV>Ray Rocky</DIV>
<DIV>Arizona State University</DIV>
<DIV>Tempe, Arizona</DIV>
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<P>"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife." --Kahil Gibran</P></DIV>
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<DIV></DIV>>From: Robert Hartwell Fiske <VOCABULA@AOL.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
<DIV></DIV>>To: ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: In the November Vocabula Review
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 20:20:48 EST
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