Why do we call it "skinny dipping" anyway?

Because it sounds better than sticking your naked butt in the water? I dunno. Why is running naked called "streaking?" The latter would only make sense if one had eaten a lot of prunes and did indeed leave a streak. Were I to do either, I'd only be displaying my shortcomings.

I went to Word Detective and checked the archives, nothing there, so I put the question to him. Maybe he'll answer. I know it's not the definitive choice, but he always makes me laugh.

Isn't it just because you are being immersed in water wearing nothing but your skin ?

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Read all about my travels around the world here.

Would it be worthwhile to propose a poll regarding how many of us have skinny-dipped in the past or might do so in the future? Might make for an interesting Wordcraft get-together highlight. B.Y.O.S. = Bring Your Own Sunscreen.

I once performed a brief scene from Shakespeare totally nude on stage in front of a private audience so you can pretty much guess what my poll answer would be.

quote:

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Originally posted by C J Strolin:
Would it be worthwhile to propose a poll regarding how many of us have skinny-dipped in the past or might do so in the future?

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Here you go CJ, proof that your concern about people not responding to your ideas was unfounded.
While truth forced me to deny any involvment with recreational pharmaceuticals truth also forces me to admit that I can think of at least a couple of occasions when I have been skinny dipping.

Inevitably, and perhaps stupidly, strong drink was involved on all occasions.

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I don't think there is any shame in admitting that I have skinny dipped in my own pool. There was no alcohol involved and it was really no big deal. I really think there is no better way to cool off on one of our 100 degree, 90% humidity Georgia days. Especially after mowing the lawn!
(Which was NOT done in the nude... Really CJ, the way your mind works...)

Based entirely on the circumstantial evidence of his previous postings I'm guessing that CJ was thinking of slightly more public occasions than in your own pool.

And I'm almost certain that the Mexican farmer in Oaxaco didn't agree that it was no big deal when he set the dogs on us - but that's another story !

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Plus a true skinny-dipping adventure should be alcohol and drug free. Anyone can get boozed up and strip down in Oaxaco (Do you make these names up??) but it takes a real hero to skinny-dip totally straight and sober in the municipal fountain in the center of town.

quote:

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Originally posted by C J Strolin:
Plus a true skinny-dipping adventure should be alcohol and drug free. Anyone can get boozed up and strip down in Oaxaco (Do you make these names up??) but it takes a real hero to skinny-dip totally straight and sober in the municipal fountain in the center of town.

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Nope, check an atlas. It's pronounced Wah-hack-oh.

Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum

Read all about my travels around the world here.

quote:

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Would it be worthwhile to propose a poll regarding how many of us have skinny-dipped in the past or might do so in the future? Might make for an interesting Wordcraft get-together highlight. B.Y.O.S. = Bring Your Own Sunscreen.

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Whew! I can say no to this one--at least for the past. Who know what the future holds?
TrossL, you checked Word Detective so I checked World Wide Words--but no dice. I believe Bob is probably right in his reasoning.

it takes a real hero to skinny-dip totally straight and sober in the municipal
fountain in the center of town.
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Here in Portland it's no big deal. It's legal to be nude in public as long as it's not for lewd purposes. While I haven't frolicked in the fountains downtown, I have gone to a privately owned clothing optional co-ed hot tub/sauna sans clothing. A steaming hot tub on a frosty day is bliss!!!

Ok, let me see if I have all this right...

C J wants to have a skinny dip when we all meet.

Bob admits to skinny dipping but only when strong drink was involved.

TrossL uses skinny dipping to cool down in privacy on a hot Georgia day.

And our Asa admits to a nude hot tub on a cold day.

Anything we forgot?

Oh, yeah, me! I skinny dipped the day my son was born! Didn't have my suit with me and it was hotter than hades all day and the water made him float and I didn't have to carry the weight. That was pure Heaven!

Have I skinny-dipped? No, can't say as I have.

Now if you were to ask me if there is anyone I would like to CATCH skinny-dipping......well, I can think of a few! To start with, ANY of the men on this board. Most notably, CJ! There are a few others (not on this board) but I will not bore you with names. They do know who they are though.

In England there are a few beaches where nudity is permitted, the nearest to here being Brighton (about 30 miles from me).

I haven't used the beach but that's due in part to the fact the the English Channel is COLD!

While on a Travel Agents' familiarisation trip to Yugoslavia many years ago, some of us did venture onto one of their many nude beaches on the island of Krk. I have to say I enjoyed the experience; it's nice to be freed from the constriction of a costume and the clamminess of it when you're trying to dry off.

Richard English

CJ, after reading Richard's post are you awake and breathing? Should I call the paramedics?

While I'm not sure nude bathing is legally permitted in very many places here in Greece, there's a very high tolerance for it. Most nudists just go to the remotest part of any beach and enjoy the warm sun and sea salt on their unfettered bodies. Although I can't classify myself as a regimented nudist, I partake every summer on some island. It's a very relaxed atmosphere, no taboos and surprisingly, not even very erotic. Just of feeling of freedom and communing with nature.

Did you know that boots with pockets were invented especially for nudists? (That's a Trivial Pursuit question!)

Richard comments that the English Channel is cold! Well, Excuuuuuse me! "Cold" is a relative term and I gotta ask: compared to what? The only reason that Britain enjoys a balmy climate is that it is bathed by the Gulf Stream or, more properly, the North Atlantic Drift. Look at a map. Britons are on the same latitude as Labradorians, who enjoy a rather more brisk climate! Why the difference? Labradorians have the Labrador Current (water temp.+1 degree C., summer and winter) on their coast, that's why. For further evidence that Britain enjoys a climate that is totally unrelated to its latitude, one need only look at South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean: a wind-blasted, glacier-capped, sub-polar wilderness- about as far south as Britain is north. So, Richard, how cold can the English Channel be? The water just arrived from the Gulf of Mexico!

If we're going to speak of cold water I have to throw my two cents in. Lake Superior is insanely cold. We go to Grand Portage every year, 17 miles from Canadian border, and the water is so frigid that you can't stand in the lake, let alone swim in it. And this is in the summer!

quote:

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
CJ, after reading Richard's post are you awake and breathing? Should I call the paramedics?

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I get an image of a totally nude R.E. at the beach casually leaning against his Rolls. I may need shock treatments...

I believe it's true what they say: You don't regret what you do as much as those things you don't do. On a pleasant summer's night in Florida, I once dropped off a date at around 2 a.m. and then asked her if she could stand a shock. When she replied she could, I completely disrobed in her front yard, threw my clothes into my back seat, and then drove off.

The drive was exhilarating! Windows all open with the warm breezes caressing me - Woo-Hoo! Unfortunately, when I arrived home I discovered my neighbors from the apartment next door (people I didn't really know that well) were still up and were enjoying a cookout in our shared front yard with some friends. At 2:00 in the damn morning! I copped out and drove away someplace to redress but, to this day, I tremendously regret not having the stones (metaphorically) to simply walk from my car to my apartment in the nude.

I imagine the conversation:

Them: "Ah, say there. You comin' back from a party?"

Me: "Yeah, I left early. They never have enough coat hangers at these things!" (at which point I unlock my door, enter my apartment, and leave them to contemplate the pros and cons of an orgy with poor housekeeping.)

Ah, well...


Oh! And thanks LadyBeth for your kind thoughts along these lines although, to be perfectly honest, the most attractive aspect of yours truly is probably what brought me to this site in the first place - my love of and use of language. Of course, Morgan, you organize that get-together and I'll show up with bells on, if nothing else!

Says CJ, "I'll show up with bells on, if nothing else!"

Looking for belles, and keeping the belles on their toes?

A friend asks, "Why do we call it a pair of panties, yet we call it a bra?"

You're right about the spelling of course - but when I was there I only ever heard it pronoinced with three syllables wah-hack-a.
I'll grant you that memory played me false on the last letter (and hence how to pronounce it) but if the start of the word is as you describe then the distinction betwen the syllables is elided out of existance by practically everyone.

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Read all about my travels around the world here.

It is true that we never get very cold weather - or very hot weather either - in the UK. However, the belief that our islands are bathed in a semi-tropical seawater soup is also untrue.

Although the waters around us are not frozen, they are not especially warm. If you imagine that the English Channel is at the same temperature as the sea at Cozumel you are in for a shock. I've been in both and I know!

However, we are surrounded by water and that helps to keep the place at an equable temperature. Landlocked places suffer far greater variations - compare the UK's range with that of, say, Moscow.

Richard English