The nekkid truth

A phrase commonly heard around my house growing up was "naked as a jaybird." (Actually, it WASN'T that often - we weren't nudists - and to be more accurate, it was more like "nekkid as a jaybird" with the Texas twang. Classy.)

I thought about this phrase the other day - it really doesn't make any sense. How is a jaybird any more "naked" than any other species of bird, or any other animal in general?

One that makes more sense but thinking about it as an adult is slightly jarring: "skin the cat!" My grandmother used to say this when we would raise our arms and she would pull off our clothes to get into the tub or get ready for bed. (Seriously. We weren't nudists. These are just two unrelated stories involving a lack of clothing.) I did as I was told back then, but ew - skinning a cat is gross and not exactly PETA-friendly.

Maybe I can just blame it on the South. They do all kinds of things down here that don't really make sense. Except for sweet tea. Now THAT is genius.