698: buck-naked Nov 5, 2016

When one is buck-naked, it is not to say exactly that he is naked as a deer or a dollar bill. 'Buck' started in Old English as 'buc' to mean 'male deer' and over time, this applied to certain other male animals, first from association from other words like 'bucca' for a male goat, and then later on just from convention, as was the case for kangaroos, which has no Old English equivalent. In the last few centuries, the word took on some racist tones with the term being applied to Native Americans and those of African descent in the U.S. No one is entirely sure why people say, 'buck-naked' but while the word has been in use for just a little over a hundred years, 'butt-naked' is even younger, and tends to be preferred.