Re: Re: whence BUCK NAKED?

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

However, in 1928 BUTT was not a nice word to use in conjunction with NAKED, 
whereas BUCK was. Perhaps BUCK is to BUTT as GOSH is to GOD? That is to say, 
BUTT NAKED could be old as the hills (no pun intended) with BUCK being what 
polite people came to say and write.

M-W's predating must predate such archival resources as Newspaperarchive. I 
guess that would be the place to look for raw (pun intended) data.

In a message dated 4/5/04 5:46:49 PM, JMB at STRADLEY.COM writes:


>         If the "butt naked" theory were true, then presumably "butt naked" 
> would predate "buck naked."  Instead, "butt naked" seems to be relatively 
> recent (Google Groups has 2/23/90), while Merriam-Webster takes "buck naked" 
> back to 1928.
> 
> John Baker
>