Tax-free. Holiday. Such sweet, welcome words.

Thursday is the kickoff of Georgia's 2008 Sales Tax Holiday, a four-day frenzy at local retailers when all sales tax is suspended on school supplies, clothes and computers. It runs through Sunday.

The first sales tax holiday weekend was in 2002; the Georgia Legislature suspended both state and local sales taxes to spur shopping. But from the beginning, the rules on what was taxable and what was tax-exempt struck folks as strange. Non-reference books are taxable; ice skates are tax-exempt.

All of the rules of the 2008 Tax Holiday can be found online, complete with a lengthy list of which items are exempt and which are taxable. Go to http:// rules.sos.state.ga.us/docs /560/12/2/100/10.pdf.

If you're shopping for tax-exempt back-to-school clothes this weekend, based on the official list, you could end up with some unusual choices. Here's a look at what the tax-exempt-dressed student could be wearing to school this year:

Bowling shoes. Cause nothing says "I'm cool" like showing up to school on the first day in bowling shoes.

Bow ties. Except showing up in a bow tie. Guys can combine the bow tie and bowling shoes, then just head straight for the restroom to collect their free swirlie.

Ski suits. In Georgia. In August. Everyone form an orderly line.

Bibs. Parents may be tempted to buy a few for teenage boys for the dinner table, even if they won't wear them to school.

Corsets. Something in a nice Victorian whalebone, perhaps. Rebellious young women can wear them to taunt the administration, confident that they are not specifically banned by the school dress code.

Roller blades. For the really big high school campuses where it's tough to get from class to class.

Adult diapers. Will your friends make fun of you? Depends.