Early this morning, I got a message from a good friend of mine; a fitness freak, who frequents the gym in her apartment complex three or four days a week. She was miffed because despite her repeated pleas, many of her fellow keep-fit buffs still failed to bring the required towel to wipe the sweat off the equipment they had just used. I was informed that gym etiquette demanded this of all members. Understandable, I suppose, especially in these Covid times. What would your reaction be if you walked into the loo and found that the earlier occupant had done the big job, but had forgotten to flush?
To lighten my friend’s mood, I told her that she should consider herself lucky that her fellow gym users were not into etymology, for if they had been, they would have paraded around in their birthday suit! Furthermore, they would have informed her that from now on, the confines of the gym would be off limits not only to her, but also to the other members of the gentler sex. For you see, the word ‘gymnasium’ (from which we get ‘gym’) comes from the Greek ‘gymnazein’ meaning ‘to train naked’. ‘Gymnos’ in Greek means ‘naked’. In ancient Greece, all athletes were male, and when they trained for an event in the gymnasium, they did so in the raw. It was common practice among athletes to participate in major events in the nude - which explains why women were not allowed to witness sports events, not even the Olympics!
Now, coming to the pressing problem at hand. I don’t know if the Greek athletes brought a towel with them to rub the sweat off equipment. Perhaps my friend should consider herself lucky, for she now has to only worry about the sweat from other people’s hands and face. In the earlier days, she would have been left wondering which part of the other person’s body the sweat had come from! Feel like throwing in the towel?
Image Source:
Banner: https://unsplash.com/photos/CQfNt66ttZM
Gym: https://unsplash.com/photos/Lx_GDv7VA9M
Athletes: https://images.app.goo.gl/oDyvwmjPex4HK5Dd6
