# Can anyone explain LORD LOVE A DUCK?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-lord-love-a-duck/236473>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 26, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-lord-love-a-duck/236473 "2004-03-26T01:13:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dr\_hermes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dr\_hermes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dr_hermes)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-lord-love-a-duck/236473/1 "2004-03-26T01:13:48Z")

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What the heck was going on with this movie? What did Roddy McDowall`s character ultimately want with Barbara Ann? What did he get out of all the strange projects he planned for her? Why did the movie suddenly go surreal at times? What the heck? I couldn`t decide if this movie was funny or creepy, or both at the same time.

And, Lord Love a Duck? Is this part of a Cockney rhyming phrase that`s obscene or something?

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**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-lord-love-a-duck/236473/2 "2004-03-26T01:32:17Z")

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There’s actually a very simple explanation for all of it:

It was the '60s, man.

As for the title, “Love a duck” is a euphimism for a more, er, brutal form of avian affection:

[http://www.londonslang.com/db/l/](http://www.londonslang.com/db/l/)

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-lord-love-a-duck/236473/3 "2004-03-26T03:48:32Z")

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> [@](#):
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> And, Lord Love a Duck? Is this part of a Cockney rhyming phrase that`s obscene or something?

As **Wumpus** too properly notes, “Love a Duck” is a mild form of “Fuck a Duck”. But whence this phrase? It might be just the rhyme that suggests it, but a few years ago I heard something that suggests to me where it may _really_ have come from.

Irresponsible guys practice “Love 'em and leave 'em”. Or, more vulgarly, “Fuck and Duck”. I suspect that “Fuck and Duck” begat “Fuck a Duck”, which in turn begat the more refined “Love a Duck”.