I have another Postcard series due to release this week, a couple swimsuit photos (this swimsuit shown here) and one “naked as a J-bird.” One thing leads to another and I wondered where that expression came from. I mean “naked as a jay bird?” Are they really naked? So, as I am wont to do, I googled it, whereas once upon a time I would have gone to the reference section at the library. J-bird is short for jailbird, a term from the 1920’s and 30’s in America. When the imprisoned people were brought in from the bus, and given their kit, they were made to walk naked from one end of the prison to another, and this became known as “naked as a j-bird — or jaybird.” It wasn’t unique to America though actually, because the British especially loved to humiliate Irish prisoners in a similar fashion. It’s interesting the meaning we’ll find behind seemingly harmless and “innocent” expressions when we dig deep enough. All this just to announce my next postcard series, but what can I say? Learn something new every day and when I do, I like to share it.
Month: October 2021
October Birthdays
October is a month loaded with birthdays in our family — fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, boyfriends, aunts, uncles — today is my dad’s 85th, so despite the pouring rain, we went off to breakfast first thing this morning, and one thing I learned the hard way is never reveal that it’s my dad’s birthday when you are out to eat. That was a lesson learned a few years ago, and I will NEVER make that mistake again. For some reason, regardless of how old we are, why do we still feel like kids with our parents? Can we ever be anything else?