Being “in the swim” means being up to date with the latest information and trends in a certain field. It is similar to “in the loop” and “in the mix”. “In the swing of things” refers to a state of proficiency in a task. Both phrases can be used in personal and business contexts.
When a person is ‘in the swim’, they are at the heart of the action and up to date with the latest information and trends. This person can often be defined as being in a dip in a certain field of knowledge or business. Generally, this means that important and disruptive information and decisions reach him before they reach other people who are less central to the scene. This phrase is also similar to “in the loop” and “in the mix”. A less common similar phrase is “in the soup”.
Another way people use the phrase is to say they’re “in the swing of things,” which is a takeoff from the common idiom “in the swing of things” with a slightly different meaning. The phrase “in the swing of things” refers to a state of proficiency and performance in a task that feels natural and rhythmic. If a worker has been out of the office for a while, he might say that it might take him a while to get things back into gear.
When someone says they are “in the swim of things” it is like saying they are “in the swim” or that they are back in the circle of communication and activity. If a person hasn’t been a part of something for a while, he may be out of the loop. A idiom similar to “in the swim” might be “in the loop,” a phrase that indicates that a person is at the center of engagement or communication about a certain project or topic of conversation. Someone who hasn’t been included in the central communication circle for a piece of information or a topic could be said to be out of the loop.
Both phrases can be used in many contexts, including business and personal relationships. If a teen hasn’t heard of an exciting rumor from her friends, she may say she’s been shut out of the loop. A company worker who wasn’t on the email list for a discussion might also say that she wasn’t in the swim or not in the cycle for the topic of discussion. In business, a person who is competing with another person for a job might say that the other person is “not in the swim,” meaning that the competitor has a lack of business involvement and contacts. It would imply that the competitor is not connected within the business world and does not have adequate communication channels.
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