# Does a duck's quack echo? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331 "2003-09-23T15:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MartinL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@MartinL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MartinL)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/1 "2003-09-23T15:25:59Z")
Hi dopers, I have been sent a link to page with “funny facts” by a friend: [facts you never knew](http://www.stuffucanuse.com/all_jokes/joke_facts.htm) He wanted me to comment on these and verify or falsify them. Some of these seem obvious to me, some not interesting or too stupid to consider, but there is one that baffles me: > [@](#): > > A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. No one knows why. I am not sure about the first part, as I have no duck at hand for testing. I am completely sure that the second part is wrong: for every question there is a doper who knows the answer. So don’t let me down, give me the straight dope! I nearly forgot: a post that starts a thread should contain a question. Is it true that a duck’s quack doesn’t echo? What’s the reason? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/2 "2003-09-23T15:33:24Z")
Let me be the first to recommend that you check the archives. Cecil’s comments may be found here: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_071.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_071.html) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/3 "2003-09-23T15:36:17Z")
Now you’ve done it. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/4 "2003-09-23T15:36:35Z")
You’re new here, aren’t you? 🙂 Let’s just say that this question has come up once or twice before. 😉 Cecil has discussed the issue (use the search function) as has [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/duckecho.htm) (next to Cecil, Snopes is your friend). The answer is, of course, no, a duck’s quack echos just as much as any other sound. ---
**Author:** ![MartinL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@MartinL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MartinL)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/5 "2003-09-23T15:41:10Z")
Thanks, GaryM! I admit I should have found that. Somehow I suspected this has been answered before. So I used the search function, but I had not realized that it only searched the message board, not the archive of Cecil’s columns. ---
**Author:** ![EVO95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@EVO95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EVO95)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/6 "2003-09-23T15:49:31Z")
But what about a 1920’s Style Duck Echo? ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/7 "2003-09-23T15:57:01Z")
I would like to congratulate everyone for actually being polite to the newbie asking _this_ question, this time around. Well done, chaps. 😉 Welcome, **MartinL**. ---
**Author:** ![spogga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@spogga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spogga)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/8 "2003-09-23T16:06:27Z")
I read Cecils reply and wondered why HE didn’t just get one of those duck lures that hunters use instead of having his team cavorting about waving live ducks around and frightening the students (and the duck) Just wondered is all ---
**Author:** ![viking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@viking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/viking)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/9 "2003-09-23T16:27:20Z")
But that would only prove that a hunter’s duck lure echoes, which wasn’t the question, now was it? ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/10 "2003-09-23T16:59:08Z")
You may not have reset the date box to “any date” when searching. Even on the message boards, the duck quack question has come up nemerous times: [Does a ducks quack really not echo? If so why?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182193&highlight=duck+quack) [Is it true that when ducks quack, there is no echo?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=164304&highlight=duck+quack) [Does a duck’s quack echo?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=151008&highlight=duck+quack) [Duck Quacks and Echoes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113825&highlight=duck+quack) [Duck quacks don’t echo? and other “facts”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108427&highlight=duck+quack) [A duck’s quack does not echo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72344&highlight=duck+quack) So this question kinda _has_ been done to death. Not your fualt, but there you have it. In any case, welcome aboard, **MartinL** , we’re glad to have you. Just don’t ask the -gry question. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/11 "2003-09-23T17:04:07Z")
If a duck parks on a driveway, it might get run over. Such a duck would not quack at all. 😉 Oh, and welcome, **MartinL.** ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/12 "2003-09-23T17:17:20Z")
If a duck quack in the forest and there is nobody there, does it echo? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/13 "2003-09-23T20:11:53Z")
Three friends who have been raising ducks on their farm decide to sell them to a customer who wants to buy thirty of them. Each of the three guys raises his own ducks, so they each give him ten of their ducks. Later, the customer changes his mind and decides that he only wants twenty-five ducks instead. The customer asks an assistant of his to return five of the ducks to the three farmers. The assistant decides to keep two of the ducks for himself, as he reasons that returning five ducks to three farmers would be difficult to divide evenly. So when he goes back to return the extra ducks, he tells them that the customer changed his mind and only wanted twenty-seven ducks. He returns one duck to each of the three farmers. The assistant keeps the remaining two ducks and takes them home. We know the customer’s assistant kept two ducks for himself, and adding to the twenty-seven ducks that were sold to the customer, this makes twenty-nine ducks. Where did the other duck go? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/14 "2003-09-23T20:23:44Z")
_Sets his watch_ ---
**Author:** ![Stage\_Manager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stage_manager/32/7267_2.png) [@Stage\_Manager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stage_Manager)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/15 "2003-09-23T20:59:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dwc1970 \* > \*\*Where did the other duck go? \*\* Tumbolia. See Hofstadter, Douglas R., _Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid._ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/16 "2003-09-23T21:05:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Paul in Saudi \* > \*\*If a duck quack in the forest and there is nobody there, does it echo? \*\* Only if the name of the forest ends in “-gry”. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/17 "2003-09-23T21:06:40Z")
There weren’t 27 sold to the customer, there were 25. Add the three returned and the two kept, and you get 30. Or have I been whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/18 "2003-09-23T23:09:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by EVO95 \* > \*\*But what about a 1920’s Style Duck Echo? \*\* Yes, yes it does; furthermore, when it comes back, it brings pie! ---
**Author:** ![Bandanaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bandanaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bandanaman)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/19 "2003-09-23T23:16:19Z")
Now I don’t know if I’m hungry, or angry, or, or, something else. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331/20 "2003-09-23T23:16:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > \*\*Or have I been whooshed? \*\* [Yeah,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=180071&highlight=missing+dollar) [pretty](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=176100&highlight=missing+dollar) [much.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=176100&highlight=missing+dollar) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-ducks-quack-echo/203331.md?page=2)