Chrysti The Wordsmith: Jay - 3

Greetings I'm Christie the wordsmith from Montana State University in Bozeman a KGO fan. Last time on this series we were naked as jaybirds. Well at least we were plumbing the logic behind that well-worn American expression. Turns out there is no logic to the saying since jaybirds are naked only at birth. But so are the hatchlings of hundreds of other bird species including sparrows robins and pigeons. No dictionary that I've seen can positively trace naked as a jaybird to its etymological source. But American word watcher Evan Morris takes a good run at the expression in his online column Word Detective dot com. He writes Since we're reduced to guessing about the phrase here's mine. There are few birds more blatantly obvious than the male bluejay. Not only is Mr J bright blue but he's also usually the loudest and most obnoxious bird in any given tree as a symbol of that which is flamboyantly obvious. The Blue Jay takes the cake. Naked as a jaybird therefore might just be a colorful way of

saying blatantly and obviously completely naked. One thing we do know about the expression is that it became current in American English early in the 20th century. The Oxford English Dictionary cites an early use of this idiom in a February 1931 edition of the American Mercury magazine founded by HL Mencken and drama critic George Nathan. I'm Christie the wordsmith from Montana State University in Bozeman. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.