[PW] naked as a jaybird

[John P. Dyson]

Quoting Wordmall at aol.com:

>
> I'm frustrated in my attempts to tie this one down. Evan Morris (The Word
> Detective) and Christine Ammer (Cool Cats, Top Dogs, and Other Beastly
> Expressions) are two wordsmiths who at least tried to formulate an
> answer, but they give
> nothing definitive. I have also learned that it's "naked as a robin" in
> Britain.
>
> So the essence of my question is, why a jaybird?

Hello Mike,

I have the [unsubstantiated] suspicion that the expression "naked as a
jaybird" may hark back to a time when "naked" as readily meant free, 
outspoken and blatant as it did unclothed. The jay is certainly known 
for the noisy indiscretion of its voice rather than its physical 
bareness at any stage of its life. Now that "naked" conjures up 
"unfeathered" more often than "unfettered," the comparison has pretty 
much lost its reason for being, it would appear.

John Dyson