Have You Ever Weighed Yourself Soaking Wet?

I think it was while I was watching a rerun of The Office recently when one of the characters (Angela) mentioned that she was 95 pounds soaking wet.

You’ve probably heard that expression before. He/she is X pounds “soaking wet.” I’m sure I’ve said it.

But who in the world is actually weighing themselves soaking wet? When I go to the doctor and they ask me to stand on the scale, they don’t first dunk me in water.

In fact, I can’t think of any circumstance where it would make sense to associate wetness with weight. The expression is essentially saying, “At their heaviest, they weigh X.” But since when is your heaviest weight associated with external moisture?

Rather, I think the following expressions are a better gauge of when we’re at our heaviest:

  • He/she is X pounds after Thanksgiving dinner.
  • He/she is X pounds before taking a huge dump.
  • He/she is X pounds fully clothed.

Wouldn’t those make more sense than “soaking wet?”

PS. I was literally the very last person selected for jury duty, so I will serve on a jury tomorrow. The saga continues…

7 thoughts on “Have You Ever Weighed Yourself Soaking Wet?”

  1. I think it’s meant because if they were soaking wet, their drenched clothing would add weight so that’s when they would be at their heaviest. It’s not a particularly insightful phrase but, arguably, if I was fully clothed and all my layers and shoes were saturated with water and I weighed in, that would be heavier than my typical weight.

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  2. Jamey,

    No comment other than to say I almost choked on my coffee as I read your “better” second example. Ha!

    Cheers,
    Joe

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  3. I don’t take the “soaking wet” image literally, but like it because it makes me smile—rushing from shower to scale, dripping all the way, then (with sensitive enough scale) watching ounces drop off before one’s very eyes as water rolls off scale!
    PS Hooray, At last (on the 4th try?), the denouement: Jamey & The Jury

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  4. When I was in High School, my Cross Country team used to compete for who could lose the most weight during a long run on a hot day. We’d all weigh ourselves on the scale in the locker room before the run, and then do it again after the run. It was pretty common to lose maybe 4 or 5 pounds if you sweat a lot. So I suppose the pre-run weight is if you are soaking wet on the inside. 🙂

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  5. I found this after just visiting the doctor soaking wet. It is snowing/raining here in Chicago and I walked 1.3 miles to the doctors and my weight was 20 lbs heavier than I expected. I was wearing wet corduroys, soaked sweater, my hair was pretty soaked and I had on my steel toed boots (because of the weather) which they told me not to take off before getting on the scale. I hope to get a more accurate weight soon and I hope that the majority of the 20 lbs is the extra water weight and not just too much eating during the Christmas season. HAHA!

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