On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 4:34 AM Tom Bishop <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

This has been a wonderfully instructive and interesting thread. I feel a bit like that line in the Talking Heads song: “How did I get here?”. The OED entry for bikini itself seems to have been compiled by a comic genius – just reading through the citations had me laughing out loud. For instance, this one:

1950 News of World 25 June 5/6 ——made an unsuccessful attempt yesterday to swim in a Hampstead Heath pond in her home-made ‘Bikini’ costume.

What was it exactly that was unsuccessful here from the perspective of the News of the World, I wonder?

Well, off the top of my head, the main possibilities are:

- The Hampstead Heath locals didn't let her anywhere near the pond dressed like that. Besides, this is a local pond for local people.

- She successfully got into the pond but then sank like a stone (maybe should have invested in swimming lessons after all).

- She successfully got into the pond and swam for a bit, but quickly discovered that home-made bikinis (crochet?) are only a good idea in theory, so before she knew it, she was successfully swimming in a Hampstead Heath pond, but not in her home-made 'Bikini' costume...