Soaking Wet

Ever since the Clean as a Whistle conversation, I've been considering expressions and their all-too-frequent inaccuracies.

Today I was thinking about 'soaking wet' as it relates to weight. Well, human weight.

She was 98 pounds, soaking wet, I once heard someone say. The phrase puzzled me. How much water could the human body really hold? Enough to make a perceptible difference?

It was time to find out.

I'm something of an expert in weight, or the theory of the weighing process, at least. From a young age, my mother taught me that to get an optimal reading, one should weigh herself at first light, after using the restroom but before consuming any food or drink, water included.

Completely naked.

This experiment would be easy. I couldn't believe I'd spent so long wondering. I'd weigh myself before getting into the shower and then again afterward. The only challenge would be resisting the habit to reach for the towel.

The results were exactly as I'd expected. No difference. Not an ounce-- and the digital scale does reflect ounces.

The only way I can see this making a significant difference is if the person being soaked and weighed was either fully dressed or had an excess of hair. I bet the expression would apply to that girl who played Topanga in Boy Meets World. Or an alpaca.

At least I finally had the answer to my musing.
And the puddles on my bathroom floor to prove it.