Butt Naked or Buck Naked?

[HopeydaFish]

[-Skeme-]

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, exactly! I've always said "Buck"...but I hear "Butt Naked" so much that it made me wonder which one is more common.

[Richard Tanner]

It should be noted that there is a correct answer to this. It's "Buck Naked", and it's thus due to the slave trade days. (*DISCLAIMER* Slavery was awful) Slaves were sold according to perceived worth (strongest, etc. etc.) and they were usually sold naked, hince those slaves sold for a dollar were called "Buck Naked" in common speech.

Cody

[JayLear]

Buck Naked or Butt Nekkid, depending on geographical considerations.

[Bradyams]

[ QUOTE ]
It should be noted that there is a correct answer to this. It's "Buck Naked", and it's thus due to the slave trade days. (*DISCLAIMER* Slavery was awful) Slaves were sold according to perceived worth (strongest, etc. etc.) and they were usually sold naked, hince those slaves sold for a dollar were called "Buck Naked" in common speech.

Cody

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Until just now Buck Naked didn't make any sense to me, so I always said butt naked.

[jakethebake]

You'll have to take our word for it when we say there a few plausible explanations for the term. One theory backed by the American Heritage Dictionary proposes the original phrase was actually "butt naked." The phrase was then cleaned up to "buck naked" so it could be used in polite company. A post on a message board forwards the idea that "buck" in this sense is an adverb meaning "stark" or "completely."

Brit wordsmith Michael Quinon has another theory. He's of the notion that "buck" and "buff," another term to describe nudity, are both derived from buckskin and buffalo hides. He argues that buff leather is tan in color, much like the color of the Europeans' skin after being in the sun. This led to the expression "to be in the buff," or naked. Thomas Dekker was the first to go on record with the term when he said in 1602, "I go in stag, in buff." The assumption is that "buck naked" has a similar derivation from buckskin.

Who's right? We don't know. But the Atlantic Monthly offers a humorous look at the way we describe degrees of nudity.

Linky

[Bluffoon]

How about "both" or "either"?

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]
It should be noted that there is a correct answer to this. It's "Buck Naked", and it's thus due to the slave trade days. (*DISCLAIMER* Slavery was awful) Slaves were sold according to perceived worth (strongest, etc. etc.) and they were usually sold naked, hince those slaves sold for a dollar were called "Buck Naked" in common speech.

Cody

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I did some research, and it looks like your explanation isn't generally accepted by linguists. Here's a site that discusses the etymology of the term:

Buck Naked or Butt Naked

[Brainwalter]

Butt-ass naked.