# Ducks.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 24, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260 "2003-05-24T18:51:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Stccrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stccrd)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/1 "2003-05-24T18:51:27Z")
I like them.
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### Author:  [@severin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/severin)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/2 "2003-05-24T18:52:37Z")
yea tastes better than chicken.
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### Author:  [@Stccrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stccrd)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/3 "2003-05-24T18:53:43Z")
Plus, they waddle.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/4 "2003-05-24T18:56:45Z")
Ducks quack me up. I wonder how they pay their bills?
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### Author:  [@severin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/severin)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/5 "2003-05-24T18:57:30Z")
Minus, they shit everywhere.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/6 "2003-05-24T19:03:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by severin \*
> \*\*Minus, they shit everywhere. \*\*
That’s not true. A duck has _never_ shit in my shoes.
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/7 "2003-05-24T19:18:50Z")
So do they call ducks “duck” because they duck underwater, or is it called “ducking” because ducks do it?
[SUB]This is the kind of thought that keeps me up at night.[/SUB]
Did everyone bring their Duck Repellent?
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/8 "2003-05-24T19:25:43Z")
I don’t want to repel ducks. I, too, like ducks.
Point 3: They quack.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/9 "2003-05-24T19:30:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Lightnin’ \*
> **So do they call ducks “duck” because they duck underwater, or is it called “ducking” because ducks do it?**
According to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com):
> [@](#):
>
> Middle English _doke_, from Old English _duce_, possibly from _ducan_, to dive.
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### Author:  [@80sHairMetalMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sHairMetalMaven)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/10 "2003-05-24T19:30:46Z")
Minus…people buy cute BABY ducks at Easter and expect them to be cute babies forever. Woe to those who have grown up ducks that are wild and out of control and end up dumping those former pets at the local pond/lake/large body of water.
IDBB
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/11 "2003-05-24T19:49:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by I\_Dig\_Bad\_Boys \*
> \*\*Minus…people buy cute BABY ducks at Easter and expect them to be cute babies forever. Woe to those who have grown up ducks that are wild and out of control and end up dumping those former pets at the local pond/lake/large body of water.
>
> IDBB \*\*
Yes, most of those birds come to a grebe-ous end. Eider that or they keep quacking teal someone hits them on the head with a mallard.
Someone stop me
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/12 "2003-05-24T20:23:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by I\_Dig\_Bad\_Boys \*
> \*\*Minus…people buy cute BABY ducks at Easter and expect them to be cute babies forever. Woe to those who have grown up ducks that are wild and out of control and end up dumping those former pets at the local pond/lake/large body of water.
>
> IDBB \*\*
Same thing happens to baby bunnies. And baby everything, pretty much.
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### Author:  [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/13 "2003-05-24T20:34:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Lightnin’ \*
> **So do they call ducks “duck” because they duck underwater, or is it called “ducking” because ducks do it?**
As I recall, it is called “ducking” because ducks do it. As the story goes ducks sleep with their heads under a wing, “ducknig” a head into the wingpit. During a Napoleonic War the French were pinned down and almost out of ammo. Some took it putting their heads into their armpits to avoid direct hits to the head. And the rest is history.
Ducks rock. Candian geese are endangered for a good reason: they’re in my way. Damn foreigners.
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### Author:  [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/14 "2003-05-24T20:37:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \*
> \*\*Same thing happens to baby bunnies. And baby everything, pretty much. \*\*
Tell me about it. Every spring you can’t go two steps without stepping on a baby duck, or a baby armadilo, or a baby human, or a baby pencil sharpener. I’ll stop now.
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/15 "2003-05-24T20:41:42Z")
Those baby pencil sharpeners are the worst! Always toddling around putting pencils in their mouths!
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### Author:  [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/16 "2003-05-24T20:42:24Z")
The ones we have out here are so lazy that they won’t paddle with both feet. So if you’re really bored you can go out to the nature center and watch them spin in circles.
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### Author:  [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/17 "2003-05-24T20:42:37Z")
Let me just remark on how pleasing it is to have a thread about ducks on this board that does not concern whether their quacks really echo or not.
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### Author:  [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/18 "2003-05-24T20:43:39Z")
I mean ducks, of course, not pencil sharpeners.
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/19 "2003-05-24T22:00:14Z")
The pencil sharpeners paddle with both feet?
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### Author:  [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks/177260/20 "2003-05-24T22:04:03Z")
Ducks are also great fodder for bad riddles:
Q. Why did one duck rat on the other ducks?
A. Because he was a tattleteal.
Q. Why did the mallard know what was going on behind the curtain at the Chinese restaurant?
A. Because he was a Peeking Duck.
Q. Who has white feathers, a bill, webbed feet, fangs, and sleeps in a coffin?
A. Count Drake-ula
…ducks and runs
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