Jeffrey Gentry

The News Journal

So Vice President Joe Biden likes to strip down to what God gave him and do a little swimming now and then.

Buck Naked Joe. Or is it Butt Naked Joe?

The question as to whether it's "butt" or "buck" was handled by the grammarphobia blog, which said: We may never know for sure, but I think the available evidence indicates that "buck naked" came first and "butt naked" was the result of phonic confusion. The first published reference to "buck naked" in the Dictionary of American Regional English is from 1928, while the first citation for "butt naked" comes from a 1966-70 DARE survey.

OK, now that's out of the way, back to the skinny on the buck naked veep. A new book, Ronald Kessler's "The First Family Detail," cites Secret Service agents as saying Biden likes to swim in the nude.

This really should come as no surprise. He's just a regular guy and what regular guy doesn't like to slip through the water naked every once in a while as people in suits with guns stand by and watch. I, for one, see nothing wrong with it. But, then again, I'm not being forced to watch him.

"Agents say that, whether at the vice president's residence or at his home in Delaware, Biden has a habit of swimming in his pool nude," Kessler writes, according to the New York Daily News and Washington Post. "Female Secret Service agents find that offensive."

For their sake, I hope his favorite stroke is not the backstroke.

Now why, you may be asking yourself, do we really need to know that the vice president likes to swim in the nude?

Well, in case you are on the University of Delaware's basketball team and you get invited to another pool party at his residence in Washington, it's useful information.

And if you're a Delaware neighbor of Biden's, it's a good reminder not to just drop by for a swim.

For the rest of us, it's just an entertaining thought. Or slightly disturbing thought, your pick.

I wonder if he and Sarah Palin will get paired up on a celebrity version of the Discovery Channel's survival show, "Naked and Afraid," when his stint as VP is over?

Share in the Only in Delaware conversation 24/7 on delawareonline. Contact Jeffrey Gentry at jgentry@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeffreygentry