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Flume?

48 replies

Thatsjusthowitisyeah · 26/07/2025 18:24

Do you call it a flume anywhere else in the UK? In Scotland a big twisty slide in a swimming pool is called a flume but someone looked at me funny when I said it today and had never heard the word. They are English.

OP posts:
IllBeFrankYouBeBob · 26/07/2025 18:24

I'm in the SE and my family say flume.

TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot · 26/07/2025 18:25

Always called it a flume here in SE England.

ninjahamster · 26/07/2025 18:25

Yep, we call it a flume. Midlands.

LittleBearPad · 26/07/2025 18:28

I’d probably call them slides but I’d absolutely know what you meant by flume.

Thatsjusthowitisyeah · 26/07/2025 18:29

Interesting. She said it’s a “water slide” which sounds American to me

OP posts:
RandomMess · 26/07/2025 18:41

Definitely a flume to me!

SamBeckettslastleap · 26/07/2025 18:43

Is it a tube? So like going down a pipe? Because that is a flume imo, but if it is just a twisty open slide then it is a water slide.

SamBeckettslastleap · 26/07/2025 18:43

Flume is a good word. Makes me think of happy times .

LittleBearPad · 26/07/2025 18:45

SamBeckettslastleap · 26/07/2025 18:43

Is it a tube? So like going down a pipe? Because that is a flume imo, but if it is just a twisty open slide then it is a water slide.

I like this nuance.

Clueless7609 · 26/07/2025 18:45

A flume is a tube and a water slide is a big open slide

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 26/07/2025 18:51

Clueless7609 · 26/07/2025 18:45

A flume is a tube and a water slide is a big open slide

This doesn't explain why OPs listener didn't appear to ever have heard the word 'flume' before. If they had, surely they would have offered this explanation?

Thatsjusthowitisyeah · 26/07/2025 18:52

I’ve always known them all as flumes. A slide would be one of those very small slides that go straight into a little kids splash pool.

OP posts:
MargaretThursday · 26/07/2025 19:03

I've lived in north, south and midlands and all use flume.

MrsMoastyToasty · 26/07/2025 19:12

It's a water slider if you're from Bristol . A flume is usually prefixed with log and relates to rides at places like Alton Towers.

Poodley · 26/07/2025 19:13

Tube water slide is a flume

Stardust286 · 26/07/2025 19:13

I'm only familiar with log flume. Never heard it used in another other context or for another kind of slide

needtostopnamechanging · 26/07/2025 19:17

Flume in north east England

SharpLily · 26/07/2025 19:22

I don't think this signals a difference in regional use of language. I think it's due to differences in education or verbal sophistication.

MyUmberSeal · 26/07/2025 19:23

Of course it’s a flume.

purpleme12 · 26/07/2025 19:24

I'd know what you mean but it's not a word I ever use no. Neither does anyone else really
I just say water slides

Thatsjusthowitisyeah · 26/07/2025 19:24

SharpLily · 26/07/2025 19:22

I don't think this signals a difference in regional use of language. I think it's due to differences in education or verbal sophistication.

Which way? In working class Glasgow it was always a flume to everyone.

OP posts:
Marmite27 · 26/07/2025 19:25

Water flume, log flume. It’s definitely a thing.

SharpLily · 26/07/2025 19:26

Thatsjusthowitisyeah · 26/07/2025 19:24

Which way? In working class Glasgow it was always a flume to everyone.

In the way that someone you were talking to had apparently never heard the word 'flume'.

SamBeckettslastleap · 26/07/2025 20:36

Thatsjusthowitisyeah · 26/07/2025 18:52

I’ve always known them all as flumes. A slide would be one of those very small slides that go straight into a little kids splash pool.

So was it a slide or a flume?

I've added a photo of a slide and a flume.

(Just imo)

Flume?
Flume?
Thatsjusthowitisyeah · 27/07/2025 05:25

SamBeckettslastleap · 26/07/2025 20:36

So was it a slide or a flume?

I've added a photo of a slide and a flume.

(Just imo)

A flume. Flumes aren’t always fully enclosed like a tube though and this one happened to be the kind that isn’t an enclosed tube- it’s like a half tube, open at the top. That’s a picture of a massive slide but a don’t know any swimming baths that have one of those. Looks like something you’d get in a soft play.

OP posts: