"Naked as a jaybird" is common in my area, too. "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" is a centuries-old proverb. Wiktionary says it was first used by Stephen Gasson in a book in 1579. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/make_a_silk_purse_of_a_sow%27s_ear Today a similar one I hear more often is, "Like putting lipstick on a pig."
Maybe it's on a subsequent quiz, but I half expected to see "as happy as a clam", which is a phrase I never understood. What is so inherently gleeful about clams that they are somehow the touchstone for happiness? And then a few years ago, I saw an interview with an older man who was born in the early 20th Century. In relating an experience of his, he said that he was "as happy as a clam at high tide." Then it finally made sense. We've just lazily truncated the complete phrase.
You've heard the expression "What's good for the goose is good for the gander?" I read somewhere it was originally what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, which seems very different.
or something. Because both times (not sure why it said I hadn't done it when I had) this quiz I didn't get bear but I can hear Yogi in my head saying it when the answer comes up. Grr I just don't seem to remember it before the end of the quiz.
“In 1920s and 30s America, J-bird was short for jailbird and when they were brought in from the bus, they went to the showers were given their kit and made to walk from one end of the prison to the other naked. Hence naked as a j-bird - or jaybird.” (LBC)
There are a lot of these I haven't heard of. "A frog in one's throat," "Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas," "A stool pigeon," "Make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"...
I think molerat should be added as an alternative answer for jaybird. "Naked as a jaybird" is only a common saying in the American South, and even living in it, I've heard both used. I'm sure "naked as a molerat" is much more common globally, and maybe even more common in just the US
What's with the bear saying? Never heard this, but bears aren't particularly smart looking fellas.
The jaybird one is a bit bonkers because it's just called a jay, it's not really naked, and the saying is usually "as a baby", but them's the brakes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM
smarter than the Avv ErAge bear
or something. Because both times (not sure why it said I hadn't done it when I had) this quiz I didn't get bear but I can hear Yogi in my head saying it when the answer comes up. Grr I just don't seem to remember it before the end of the quiz.
Ah well.
Or a junebug for that matter
"This is what you give me to work with? Well honey, I've seen worse!"
The jaybird one is a bit bonkers because it's just called a jay, it's not really naked, and the saying is usually "as a baby", but them's the brakes...