What do you call that bridge/dock/pier/jetty -thingy you dive/swim from?

I BEG your pardon...!!!! mutter mutter mutter....

 

Then you might not want to be calling it a dock. That leaves pier/jetty and may depend on where you're from.

 

In a work of fiction, it might be best to use a description that is universally understood, rather than a term that could be misunderstood and cause confusion (even if it is the correct term). Perhaps one of the characters could say something like: "We walked out onto the wooden platform that extends out across the water, I don't know what that's called."

 

Yikes! I'm going to bed and next thing you know there's two pages!

Okay, so I googled "swimming dock", "swimming pier", and "swimming jetty", and I got most results for "swimming dock", and the pictures show what I'm looking for, so I think I will go with swimming dock. I got about half the number of results for "swimming pier", and half of that for "swimming jetty".

Hmmm... or I might do that

 

I think you're joking?

I don't think there is a correct term for this - just a locally correct term.

Where's the book set? (I guess we're screwed if it's SF/F...)

 

It's not a book, just a short story. I don't have an exact location in mind, but somewhere in the northern parts of the US, or maybe southern Canada.

 

Oh, then, it's definitely a dock!

 

I'm with jannert - in southern Canada/northern US, "dock" is the word!

 

Whatever works in the context. Just goes to show though... we spend a lot of time picking over our words trying to find exactly the right nuance, and even so, our words might not be hitting the mark as well as we think they are.

 

Yep. Here we are, blissfully diving and swimming, and dodging container ships coming in to unload....

 

Why can't we all just learn Swedish instead?
Pir (pier) -- One of those long things that extend out into the lake/sea. Usually made of concrete and/or rocks but can be made of planks.
Hamn (harbour) -- A place where boats/ships can moor to unload goods, be left for the night, etc. Usually has cranes, warehouses, etc. in the vicinity.
Brygga (the thing we're talking about here) -- Small platform extending into a lake/the sea. Usually used for swimming, fishing, diving, sun bathing, mooring rowing-boats, etc.

 

But... but what about "wharf"? (Just stirring ; sounds like things are already sorted!)

Interestingly, I've heard that etymologically "dock" referred only to the space in the water that the boat would occupy, and only through misuse did the word come to refer to the adjacent structure.